In the eyes of Infinity
by ZathromX
Summary: (This is not a minecraft fanfic, this is an original fic, that I as a writer want to give back to the site after a long time for helping me start out my days as a writer. The story utilizes many other genres than the two listed. VR and litrpg included, so if u don't like them, u don't need to read them. To those who are interested, please enjoy.)
1. Chapter 1

UPDATE 0: Prologue

Infinitus Online, a Survival MMORPG created in the year 2020 by Arthur, the head executive chairman of the world's most popular gaming industry Astral.

It was a new genre introduced into gaming combining the elements of a Survival game with the elements of an RPG. With multiple and unique landscapes as well as scenario's taken from top class survivors, it redefined the survival genre. When it came to the RPG side of the game with its many diverse races, skills, items and options of gameplay it took the title as the best role playing game.

Additionally, it was the first of its kind to be able to create what is known as a fully interactive world. A fully interactive world is a world where every action mattered and even the simplest action could make the most catastrophic results. Generating with a variety of seemingly endless quests forcing players to make difficult choices which can easily alter the world around them making it the most challenging game of the era.

To players this was an unexplored new world where the rules set into place mattered and should not be taken lightly, however who's to say that the rules can't be broken. With the game's unnatural ammount of freedom, players could rob banks, kill NPC's, destroy kingdoms and even establish countries of their own, however such acts are paired with the respective consequences which lowered the risk of any of these events happening.

With all of these elements at play it was'nt farfetched to say it was a hostile replica of the real world itself.

This was the time where the limits were first broken between the real world and the virtual one...

However it never stopped there. In time the world underwent various historical and technological events which marked a new history on planet earth. Through mankind's determination it was not long before they brought science fiction into reality, among them was Virtual Reality.

Virtual reality is a reality created by a computerized system of intricate codes and patterns connecting itself to a person's nerval system and is able to construct an interactable simulated reality.

Compared to reality itself, it could be modified to fit the desired requirments for a person using it such as medicine, military, communication, but most of all entertainment. Which gave rise to a new genre in gaming, known as VR games, the most popular genre being VRMMORPG's.

To gamers and gaming companies all over the world this was known as the Golden Age of gaming...

It was also at this time that Astral signed an agreement with certain VR companies to make Infinitus Online into a VRMMORPG. It took 2 years of long wait to launch its release and from that moment continued to improve upon with numerous updates expanding its universe and gameplay to new heights never before seen in gaming.

Infinitus Online's survival fantasy style world coupled together with the VR's captivating and realistic images was a match made in heaven for gamers and gained its title as the most realistic VR game of the new age.

And with this shattered the limits a second time.

Once this was accomplished Infinitus Online was able to give gamers the one aspect other games can't do, create a world that suits the player.

The universal reason any gamer would enjoy playing a game is that the world is not real, meaning that the player can live in a world nowhere connected to the world we live in and could do anything to make the game enjoyable and escape the real world entirely.

50 years later after its original launch, Astral announces the game's final update to be launched on their world wide exclusive server along with the newest generation VR technology. Many gamers were excited for this while others who played the game since its release saw this as Infinitus Online's final years and with the update marks the end of its great history in the gaming world forever.

Its marketing theme: Where limits are broken. Stays true to the actual game.

This time the limits are to be broken even further with no where to return...

END OF UPDATE


	2. Chapter 2

UPDATE 2: New game

I couldn't move, where am I? I took a good look around me watching as people fled away from the village, and as the roaring flames around me consume the house and spread like a wildfire charing everything it touches black.

Right, now I remember, I got blasted by a Succubus.

I turned to my right, seeing my mithril sword just a few feet from my grasp. I tried to reach for it with whatever strength I have left, after a few seconds I halted my struggle.

Even if I could reach for it there wouldn't be any point. I can't beat her...

I was surrounded by flames and the screams of people. I've only got about 5 percent of my HP left and it was still decreasing at a fast rate from a debuff called burn. The house I was shot into was in flames and could crumble any second, the burning pain I'm feeling after that large attack only tempted me to stay down rather than escape. Why did Astral have to add pain to this game?

Suddenly a familiar voice began shouting to me.

"Zach!"

"Zach! Get up!"

I could hear someone calling out to me, but I couldn't get up even if I wanted to right now.

"Damn I thought that my life had some more purpose in this new world, I guess not"

I sighed at myself before giving a horse cough as I slowly looked up at the glowing white moon.

How did this even start?

It started with that day 3 months ago, the day when my life changed forever...

June 13, 2070. 5:21PM.

It was evening, I rushing back to my apartment on my bike from my part time job. It was today that Astral was going to release the final update for the VR Survival MMORPG Infinitus Online, along with that Astral's exclusive server limited to only 5 million people world wide.

I was cycling as fast as I could sparing each breath I took to the point where I could either break my bike or break my legs or both.

Being one of those 5 million players was my driving force and playing on that server was my goal. The reason for this was like I said the server was exclusive, the reason Astral labeled it as such is because that server will be the only server where the new update will be launched, and every other server won't have it.

They said on the forum that the amount of content and data in this was enormously too much to be released for all servers and until they can fix it, this will be the only server that will host the update. Once the limit reaches 5 million only the ones who logged in in time and entered their code would be accepted and its release is 5:30 PM United States standard time, I had 9 minutes to get to my apartment and input my login code I got from the nearest game store.

I finally reached home after 7 more minutes, as soon as I saw the building of my apartment, I threw my bike aside on the sidewalk and ran up to my room.

"I've got to hurry c'mon hurry...!" I bashed through the door and sprinted to my bedroom, turned on the computer, logged on my VR account on my software and immediately input the code given to me. A countdown icon appeared in the upper right of my computer's screen, it was made just for this event. I positioned my cursor on the enter button and prepared myself until the last ten seconds.

10...9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2...1...0!

As soon as I saw the timer hit zero I immediately clicked my left mouse button.

Another window appeared with a text saying.

Your code has been submitted to our server's system please check tomorrow for confirmation

I exhaled deeply before launching myself back on my chair in relief. After a minute of catching my breath I was able to return to a more relaxed state.

What about me? Who am I? I don't really know, well I guess I wouldn't really call myself as a normal person even before I got dragged into this incident and I at the moment I don't really think it matters anymore, but I'm about to die anyway so why not? My name is Zachary Isaac Fallen.

I know, my name sounds like a hero from a fantasy world, I find people always making fun of me for that every time I fail in something. Not that I cared I still took pride in it no matter who was making fun of me.

I'm currently 18, just graduated from high school. I'm applying to a certain college, but that story is for another time.

I was orphaned at the age of 12 due to my parents being deceased from a house robbery incident that happened back then, I'm lucky to still be alive from that. I was adopted by my aunt and uncle and raised me like my parents would have, though I never got over the incident until now. Ever since that time I learned a truth about reality, our reality at least, sucks. Unfair, cruel, limited, in my opinion the real world can all just go to hell for all I care... I wouldn't say all of it, but if all the world's trash would disappear it would be a much better place.

Growing up I was the shy and unsociable nerd who loved to play games to escape reality. Unlike the world I lived in playing games made me have a purpose, a goal, an objective on what to do in life whether it be saving the princess or saving the world you actually have a purpose and even if the game doesn't give you one it's not limited to real life you can act and live a life not bound to the limitations of the real world.

I first found Infinitus Online when I was 10 years old through my parents since they worked at Astral, that was also the time I was introduced to games as well as VR and became addicted to it. It was ironic though that I got my first VR set when I was 14 due to safety requirements of the gear.

Once I logged into Infinitus I felt like I could do anything. I played it day in and day out non stop. The unlimited possibilities that can be done was extraordinary it felt like heaven, building castles, slaying mobs, going on adventures and discovering new things, I loved the world and I wanted it to live on, well it did just not in a way I thought it would.

When I finally turned 18 I inherited my parent's fortune thanks to the support of my parent's friends in Astral and a couple of lawsuits and am living alone in my apartment.

Enough about me though let's get back to what is actually happening.

I leaned back on my chair for a few more minutes imagining the new content that was added into the game. My mind flooded with numerous ideas, the more I think the more I excited I got. I was like a little kid jumping up and down on Christmas Eve. However, there was one setback that I found annoying to this update and probably the only reason I am like this, its the fact that most of the details or all of the details to this update were entirely disclosed from the general gaming community using "Surprise" as their excuse. I don't really understand what their doing in general, but I'm guessing this was a marketing stunt persuading people to buy their new content, I mean it worked on me.

The only thing they did say is that we don't need to use our VR gear to join, more or less even play. I never understood what they meant by that, it was so vague that everyone all over the world not just in gaming as well as others in VR companies and other people were raising questions, all with no answers. The ones who probably had them were Astral's head executive chairman [Arthur] and probably the VR company chairman, but [Arthur] has never showed his face to the public and have since lived in secrecy and the VR chairmen weren't budging either.

Questions and worries filled my mind.

Did I make it? I wonder what new things they added this time? What should I do first? God I hope I made it!

I did all sorts of things to calm me down, but no matter how hard I tried my mind was fixated on the game. So I just decided to go to bed. I finally fell asleep after some time later that night.

June 14, 2070. 9:01 AM  
I woke up in my bed the next day and drowsily raised myself up to a seated position. I rubbed my eyes and yawn, I turned my head towards my computer and suddenly remembered.

"Right the game, I gotta know if I got accepted in the server!"

I jumped out of bed and rushed to the computer seat. I closed my eyes and prayed that I got in as soon as I opened my personal email on my VR software. I slowly opened my eyes and immediatly widened and my mouth gaping wide open with amazement.

Congratulations Zachary Isaac Fallen! You are the 5000000th player to join the server!  
"Yes...Yes! Oh my God Yes! I got in!"

I mean it's 5 millionth, but that doesn't matter!

After about 30 minutes of yelling and rejoicing I soon settled back into my chair. After I closed the first window and another one came.

Would you like to join now?  
Yes/No?  
I obviously clicked yes. I cracked a smile thinking of all the different things I should do when I start, I felt like a little kid again just like the time I started playing. I had so much expectation of what the game would be, but no one could have expected what happened next. My screen immediately turned black.

"Huh? What happened?"

I raised an eyebrow and was about to do an examination, but the next thing I knew, a bright flash of light filled my apartment. My eyes widened in surprise and only began raising questions, what followed was a horribly painful headache. I gripped my head and soon began shouting and wailing in my pain.

"AAARRGHH!"

I continued to shout in pain and fell on the floor succumbing to it, I was dead frozen.

I can't move what is this?

I felt my vision slowly fading into darkness.

It's not really a problem, somebody should have heard me scream earlier, help is probably on the way by now anyway.

As I lied there, another thought jumped in my mind.

What if nobody comes?

Is this it? Am I going to die? Well, if I do, I guess I never had any real purpose in this world and no one is going to regret my death anyway.

A couple of minutes have past, still slightly conscious, able to think at least. Nobody seems to be coming, and I can't do anything, not even my voice can pull through.

Who knows someone might be coming, but I guess this is it. If this really is me dying, I do regret not playing the Infinitus Online content before this unfortunate event happening, but I can't really do anything about it anymore.

Just before I saw the darkness a voice called out to me.

"Your purpose has yet to be completed Zachary"

Those were the final words before I blacked out.

I slowly opened my eyes. In the darkness of my minds thoughts I saw two worlds one being built the other being destroyed. I was confused and began to raise questions.

"What is this...?"

A mysterious feminine voice sounded the area.

"It is up to you to decide the fate of this world"

What did she say?!

"What...who are you?! What do you mean!?"

I continued to shout out my questions, but to no avail.

"In time you shall know the truth."

Then the two worlds clashed against one another and a flash of bright light filled the area. I didn't understand what those words meant under all the confusion I was in on the moment but they sounded important. I soon woke up.

I took deep breaths as I placed my hand over my forehead trying to understand what I just saw.

"What was that?"

I soon took notice that I was breathing or even moving for that matter. My eyes widened in shock and thoughts began to fill my mind as I looked down at my hands.

Wait I'm alive? I'm not dead yet? I thought that I died, did that voice was the one that saved me. Purpose huh, maybe I do have a purpose to live, dammit if only she told me what it was.

No, I'm probably over exaggerating this. Well I guess being alive is a good thing, but not knowing my purpose after being told is a bit frustrating! At least I can start playing now.

But before I could do anything a sense of heat welled in my left hand.

"Gh!"

I turned my hand around to look at it and on it was a glowing blue symbol of some sort, a picture of a woman with her hands positioned on her chest as if to hide something. I continued to daze mystified by its purpose.

What is this...?

But before I could examine it further it disappeared.

Never mind I guess...

I decided to leave that weird occurrence as it may and settle it another time.

I turned my head upwards to find myself in a lush green forest.

So I spawned here? Where's everyone else? Guess I bugged out huh? Dammit I knew that being the 5 millionth player had a catch to it. Whatever I guess, I'm here and that's all that matters.

I stood up and looked downward to examine what I was wearing.

Hm, lets see. Starter shirt, Starter pants, Starter shoes, well this is how we start after all, though... why are all of them color black? I don't really mind, but is it random of how they chose the color scheme?

I started looking around my vision to see my hud. There are only listed a few details on my hud, Name, Race, Level, Experience, then HP, MP and SP gauges.

Zach Fallen Race: Human LVL:1 EXP: 00.00%  
50/50 HP  
20/20 MP  
65/65 SP  
50HP, 20HP, 65SP? Something's not right, I should go to my Character profile.

I proceeded to checking if my UI works by testing the avatar.

"Character profile."

Name Zachary Isaac Fallen Strength 6  
Level 1 00.00% Fortitude 9  
Gender Male Agility 13  
Race Eximus Dexterity 11  
Age 18 Intelligence 13  
Health 50/50 HP Mental Strength 5  
Stamina 65/65 SP Mental Constitution 4  
Mana 20/20 MP Mental Recovery 0.001 MP/s  
Vitality 0.005 HP/s Points Remaining 0  
Endurance 0.03 SP/s Status Normal

What kind of race is that? Eximus...

In Infinitus Online there were already numerous races to choose from the start, around 20 if I can remember, and in a span of 50 years Astral has made a very diverse set of races for players to choose from and have long since past the hundreds. The game has combined monsters from numerous mythologies to form most of the races, Demi-humans, Elves, Dwarves, Angels, Demons even Undead can be found, though I've never seen this race before. Maybe it's apart of the update.

Well it hell of a lot better than getting a boring human as a race. Though it would be nice to know the benefits of this race. Maybe that symbol is apart of it, but I'm not sure.

What got me stumped on this is that there is Age. That has never been mentioned before in any VR game that I have played, and it shows my exact age as well, it must be some scan they did or they just copied it of from the info I gave them, I don't really know.

Though other than that I am actually a bit happy and sighing in relief.

I was told and it was mentioned on multiple sites that Astral might have added Classes into the game.

This game never had Classes to begin with it was mostly just through what ever weapon or magic that a player could get skills on, however with classes there are limitations, example an archer can only use a bow and can never use a sword if the person tried. That was how it used to work before and I am happy that almost all RPG's stopped using it. When Astral first introduced it into the gaming world I was clapping joyfully in my mind as if I had seen a major achievement, and it really was.

Ever since they removed classes everyone has wanted to be what the community calls as Magic Swordsman. It means a person who can use both weapon techniques and magic spells, it sounds pretty interesting and powerful, but it was a very hard build to maintain.

Specifically in attribute points, there are only so many a player can get at the start and during the latter parts of the game so players have to choose between physical and magical stats. Increasing both of these need to be very precise to make the build work. There was also the issue of combo's using Weapon techniques along with the spells the player had, but since there were no classes there wasn't really any skill that was specified towards the build and most people dropped it.

Even I had trouble when I was experimenting on the build and my god that was hell. However the update may have changed some mechanics so I want to try it out again to see if it will work out.

So new goal: Magic Swordsman.

I went to my Attributes.

There are a lot of Attributes, there are some new one's I'm seeing, Mental Strength, Mental Constitution, Mental Recovery those Attributes were never there before.

Are those supposed to represent magic stats? Then what's the use of Intelligence then? That's weird, I'll explore onto that on a later time.

What's even more peculiar is that all my stats are in an erratic arrangement. It used to be 50HP, 50MP and 75SP as starters for humans so why are they less? Then for the Attributes it should all be 5 each, why are they numbered like this? Also what's up with those regen. stats? isn't that a bit too low?

The racial benefits of the human race were that had a body a bit tougher than some races, it was for those who were looking at physical and melee combat, what's more is that it's a race that offered balanced stats, compared to other races like Elves who had higher magic base stats or Demi-Humans depending on the race would boost specific stats whether physical or magic. However that was back then I'm not sure how it is now, as a human race I would say that my beginning stats are a bit low.

This may be a problem since this game is a numerical system maybe it's changed, but are these just random? I'll figure that out later, lets just check if everything works fine.

"Skills"

Active  
None

Passive  
Hand to Hand Combat Mastery LVL 3

Support  
Language Comprehension

-English LVL MAX

Mathematics

-Simple Math LVL: MAX

Special  
Awakened LVL MAX

Magic Perception LVL 1

5 skills. Well that's not normal, also how do I have Hand to Hand Combat Mastery as a passive skill? Its logical at the very least, but anyone can do it before and this skill never popped up, it was more of Martial arts that came through rather than this. And why is there a level should'nt it be based on strength? On that note there isn't an EXP meter, so how is it exactly supposed to level up?

Another thing, why do I have Language Comprehension and Mathematics as support skills? This doesn't make any sense, usually support skills are skills like crafting or fishing, I've never seen these as support skills before.

I put some time in thought to think of a reason, but my reasoning seemed to have failed in giving me an assured answer to this.

Seriously when Astral said that this update was going to be huge, they should have at least told us about stuff like this. What's Awakened and Magic Perception supposed to be? I've never seen any of these skills before and what are Special skills supposed to be?

This is giving me a headache, I'll look into it later.

"Equipment"

A window appeared with a 3D model of my body placing info on all parts that could be equipped with an item, as it looks I can equip every part of my body. That's a good feature, however as of now these are the only equipment I have.

Body part Upper torso Lower Torso Feet  
equipment Black shirt Black Pants Black shoes

They are not giving me a stat value, that's weird, is it bug? It's a new server after all so its probable that some bugs may have slipped along with the update. Other than that I suspect that its low level so I'll be sure to get much more better equipment in the future. I vowed in my mind. I continued to scan through, however when I called the next one, it didn't appear.

"Inventory"

It didn't appear. Confusion began to linger in as I began calling out to it several times.

What the...? Its not appearing. Is there something wrong?

I continued to call out the other windows just to make sure, and almost all of them had the same result.

"Map"

What's wrong is the system in a glitch or something? Continuing on...

"Mail"

It didn't appear either.

"Friends list?"

Nope, none of the 4 appeared.

What's wrong is this really a glitch or something? Wait! If these 3 did'nt appear then-!

Hesitant to say the Menu name, I said it stuttering, worried that it wouldn't appear.

"O-Options..."

It appeared. I sighed in relief. I began scanning through it and noticed something peculiar.

Wait something is wrong. Where's the logout icon?

Cold sweat began to pour down from my cheek.

Oh no this is bad! I've heard incidents where the players logout icon didn't work and sometimes ended up getting stuck in the system for a while, however this time it's not even there in the first place! What the hell is wrong with this?! Where's the GM assistance icon? Shit its not here either! The only thing that is here are Notifications! Like that's going to help me.

I scratched my head trying to think of a reasonable explanation for this, besides the fact that this system is totally broken in terms of the features of a player's avatar.

After a few minutes of thinking I sighed in frustration and patted my pocket. Surprisingly enough I felt a hard rectangular object in it, curious I took it out, though I wish I didn't.

It was a small purple flat rectangular item, much like the appearance of an smartphone without any visible buttons to press.

What is this? A window appeared

Audio Recording  
Title: A message from the Admin  
An audio recording? Why would I have this? A message from the Admin? Is that supposed to be Arthur? What does he want to tell us?

At its center was a play button. I pressed it and what appeared after was a holographic screen, at its center was a man whose face cannot be seen through the video.

The holographic image began to speak.

"To start of I want to introduce myself. My name is Arthur, the creator of Infinitus Online. If you are hearing this message then that must mean you are one of the lucky five million to have made it in to our exclusive server. Congratulations on your entry. However, rather than a priviledge I would honestly say in your case that this is a death sentence."

Death sentence? What, does he mean by that?

"You must have some questions as to what I mean by this. You may or may not have already checked your options menu before you have watched this recording and sooner or later you will discover that the log out feature is gone. Do not worry, as this is a special feature added to the new update. There is one last special feature that our update has combining the technology we have with the latest VR tech we call Infinity."

They did this intentionally? What? I am so confused.

I began scratching my head again, after a few seconds I stopped after hearing his next words. The following words made my eyes slowly widened to form a blank expression on my face, the words sent chills running down my spine like shockwaves and cold sweat began to pour down as I continued to listen. Those words were...

"In this world you only have one life, there are no respawns, once you die its game over. There is only one reason all of you have been summoned to this world and that is to play my game, as such I decided to make it have a much more thrilling experience. Dying in this world means death in the old world."

What did he just say?! I continued to listen intently as I held my trembling hands.

"When you first logged in several hours ago, our system released a systematic electromagnetic wave similarly identical to your brain waves, sending your mind into a state of comatose, we apologize if there was any harm in that process, the bright light you saw before you fainted was disguised as a virtual scanner, scanning your entire body. After we transmitted it into the game, your avatar as of now is a replica of your body, well what it used to be. Now allow me to go back on my statement of how death in this world is the same as in real life, to put it bluntly your body does not exist in the real world anymore. It has been virtualized as another part of our system consisting a billions of ones and zeros. Once you die you will be erased from our server's system, once that is finished there is no way from coming back. In conclusion to this your body is not in the real world, it is here reborn in my world."

Is what he said really true?! No wait can this even be done in general?! No way! No, no, no this can't be happening...

"Don't believe me? Here are some of the latest news events."

Another window then appeared with a newscaster on it. Its main caption was "5 million missing! Newest VR technology deadly?"

"5 million people worldwide have disappeared without a trace, currently we are still clarifying who are missing. Witnesses claim to have seen their disappearance after seeing a bright light flash from their computer. Investigators believe it is the fault of the newest VR technology, currently scientists all over the world are trying their best to solve the situation."

More and more began appearing just like it, all in different languages, reporting the same thing.

"I will not be revealing the reason I take such actions, however there is still hope in reclaiming your former body, the only way to do so is if you complete my game. Once the game is completed all your bodies will be recreated through Infinity, though only those who survive long enough shall be able to witness their freedom. It doesn't matter how you do it, this is my world after all."

"As such I wish you all the best of luck."

END OF RECORDING

The holographic screen then shrunk back into the purple rectangle.

After the message my mind was blank, I didn't know what to do. Why is this happening? How did this happen? The same questions kept coming back to my head. I looked towards my hands, they were shaking I was scared, of course I was. To destroy and recreate our bodies here and back, our world currently has no such technology to accomplish this!

I felt a pain grow in my left chest and I began to take deep breaths. I fell to the ground struggling to calm myself down.

My chest! Why does it hurt?! Is this my heart? There was never any pain added in this game before, this is the first time I've experienced it in the VR world. So this is what he meant by thrilling...

It took me some time of constant struggling to get my mental state and reasoning back on track. I began to breathe more easily and my hand gripping my chest has also loosened and I was able to stand back up.

Ok, I've managed to calm myself down. This is real, all of it is real.

So if this is my real body then...

I went towards a nearby water hole, bended down on my knees and looked in the water and saw a face. A face hiding behind long black bangs together with a unique hairstyle, beneath were gentle round black eyes with a round face which set me aside from the other guys my age making me look younger from the rest.

The face that I designed was gone. It was my face in the real world the face that I wanted to escape from, the sight sent a chill down my spine. I began touching my face all over just to double check, but unfortunately it was real.

There's no doubt about it that's my face. They really paid attention to the detail, I wish I designed my own appearance, but I guess seeing my real face is better than something the system would have designed for me if there ever was a feature.

Since this world is the same as real life, then the reason a number of the features not working is because [Arthur] is following the rules of the real world. Then that would mean the reason there was age and my stats were erratic was because they measured me and how I was entirely? I really was a weakling back in the old world, though I did get some pretty average to good grades so that must explain my Intelligence, I still don't know about MS and MC. In terms of my erratic stats there must be a way to counteract that. Inventory then must only be limited to how much I can hold. I guess having a portable mail system and mapping system in this world would be counted as illogical, but if I know anything about [Arthur] and this game is that there is always way.

Hand to Hand Combat Mastery... Ah, that must be from me trying to defend myself against the bullies at school, I don't want to remember those days.

As for support skills, I understand the english language well enough and if I were to guess why its registered as a support skill is because its practical. The requirements from my understanding to be counted as a skill is both knowledge and practicality so Language Comprehension and Mathematics fit those two and is the reason why none of the other subjects like Science and History are registered here because its just knowledge without any practicality.

Also Language Comprehension doesn't mean that I can write well using the english language it just means I understand how the language works from reading to writing to speaking. Math though... well not my best subject, I can't even remember any of the theories they taught me back then, not like its going to matter to me especially not in this world.

I'm surprised Gaming wasn't here, but now that I think about it, it's not really specific plus all I did play are VR games so I'm not sure to call that gamin or fighting.

I don't know how I learned Magic perception and Blessed, but I guess I have it.

For learning and understanding the rules  
+1 INT

What the heck? For learning and understanding the rules... How did I get Attribute points from that?

I put a minute of thought to understand what that window meant, and I found a reason, in my own definition.

Ah, I get it. Since I learned something new, I got INT because it increases my ability to learn. So will the other Attributes work the same way? If that's so then that means it's a grind type system of training not numerical. I guess that's why there weren't any EXP meters in the skills menu since one would need to train and if there was an EXP meter it wouldn't really be as accurate from person to person since experience would vary, so how exactly is it supposed to level up?

If INT, MS (Mental Strength), MC (Mental Constitution) and MR (Mental Recovery) are of the mind, then that would mean STR, FRT, END, AGI, VIT and DEX are of the body. However I am still uncertain how Mental Strength and Mental Constitution are increased.

So if this is a grind type system then why are there points on the character profile, shouldn't it not be there since attributes can now be trained naturally, this world has so many contradicting features.

Well, putting that aside. What should I do first?

I then felt a disturbance in my stomach region, the sound of grumbling came to my ears as I placed my hands on top of it.

I guess its food. I didn't eat breakfast after all, alright first I need a weapon. Since this world is real they didn't give us any starter crafting recipes to help us and once I do learn a crafting recipe it should appear on my Crafting skill list.

Guess I'll craft a flint knife, it was the very first weapon players had to craft once they entered the game. Alright let's do that.

The materials for this crafting recipe are simple, first obviously a piece of flint, next is rope and lastly a stick. Now it doesn't seem complicated, but in this world the process of doing it is a bit tedious.

After another few minutes of searching I found my materials.

I don't have that nifty crafting system anymore, before it used to be that the system would do it for us once we get all the materials, but now its different.

Lets see, I guess I should start with this, I got a nearby rock and started smashing it on the flint to form sharp edges. After a few minutes of continuous pounding, I made into a shape much similar to the edge of a knife. Windows began appearing.

New skill: Crafting learned!  
Crafting will be added to support skills!

New sub skill: Flintknapping learned!  
Flintknapping will be added to Crafting support skills!

New sub skill: Tool making learned!  
Tool making will be added to Crafting support skills!

New Crafting recipe: Sharpened Flint learned!  
Crafting recipe: Sharpened flint will be added to crafting recipes

You have crafted Sharpened Flint!  
So this already counts as crafting? Huh, that's convenient. Wow that's a lot of skills just from doing that, all are very specific too. The game never had those before, essentially it was just crafting. I'll check out how that works later.

Thats done, how am I supposed to make rope with grass? After a few attempts of trying to tie it to the stick it ended with me knotting it into a thick rope about a few feet in length enough for me to use. A window appeared.

New Crafting recipe: Grass rope learned!  
Crafting recipe: Grass rope will be added to crafting recipes  
Afterwards I took my stick and sharpened flint and tied it together with my grass rope. A window appeared.

New crafting recipe: Flint knife learned  
Crafting recipe: Flint Knife will be added to crafting recipes

Cool, but its not giving me the skill... usually it would give the skill when a player touches the weapon. Hm... maybe I should swing it a couple of times? This is a real life system after all so just touching the weapon won't really give a skill.

So I did.

I took a deep breath and concentrated my strength into my swing. I made a horizontal slash using my right hand and quickly made a thrust forward after and shouted.

"HAAAHHH!"

Taking some breaths I waited patiently for the window to appear, but it didn't. My expression turned embarrassed as I scoured the area around me to see if anyone was there even though I'm sure there weren't any.

Well that was a bit embarrassing... I hope nobody heard that. I shook my head moving on.

Its not giving it to me, maybe a couple more...

So what I can only tell was a few minutes of swinging and stabbing into the air until I felt comfortable. On my final thrust the window finally appeared.

One-Handed Dagger Mastery obtained!  
One-Handed Dagger Mastery will be added to Passive skills.

Ok, so I have to attack a few times before I get the skill, but it only gave it to me once I had gotten a hang of it, though I said this, it does not mean that I am adequately skilled with using it. It just means that I have used it enough for me to have a basic understanding of how to use it.

Now I wonder how the techniques are going to be learned. Before if I remember correctly it was more of a skill tree like system, so if I continue to use it I should be able to learn them right? I'm not so sure. The skill tree wasn't of course the only way to get skills, there were of course ways like the book system or the teacher system to learn special or relative skills. Ányway I should be able to judge if its still here once I start fighting.

Now lets see the stats. A window appeared. 

Name Flint knife  
Range Very short  
Status Sharp

Its not showing me all the details, right I can't calculate the weight and durability of an object just by looking at it also its the same with the defense value I can't see its attack value, this is real life after all so I guess it's reasonable.

It's probably weak too... Well even if it is, a couple stabs with this should be enough to fetch me some breakfast.

Lets go hunting.

END OF UPDATE


	3. Chapter 3

UPDATE 3: Survive

I stood up and ran back into the woods.

Although I was trying to assess my current situation, to be playing this game and the thrill of being here has never changed ever since the moment I first logged on four years ago. Whenever I was here I would feel more alive than I ever was in the real world, and to me this world was the only world I lived in, to me this is no more than an average day, just that I'm starting from the bottom.

I began searching for anything that looks edible. Fortunately, I did.

After some time after running through the forest I heard a certain sound.

"Oink...Oink."

What's that sound? It sounds like, a pig?

I followed the sound until I found sight of my target. I immediately hid in the bushes trying to avoid making any noise. A window appeared

Name Boar  
Classification Animal  
Type Mammal  
A boar. Wait, I can't see it HP Gauge along with the level... that's weird, right not everything can be measured I guess what I can see is only what I know. Now, if everything is still the same as the game, the thing I need to be careful is its charge attack and tusk strikes if I ever get into combat.

I tried to make it appear, but no matter how much I squinted it's HP bar never appeared. Same as the level I can't see it, yet that is. Putting that aside...

Looks like I'm having bacon for breakfast then, I have to sneak up on it quietly...

I slowly walked around, circling around it slowly getting closer and closer. However I made one misstep

*Crack**Snap*

Crap!

I stepped on a twig, causing the boar to be alerted and face me. Steam blew out from its nostrils as it bellowed and dug the dirt behind its foot preparing its charge attack.

Oh no. It seems battle is unavoidable this time around. I prepared my stance with my knife held close to my face, the sharp end of the knife facing opposite my face. I narrowed down my sights on the boar for its attack.

The boar then charged at me at full speed, cutting the distance shortly after. I immediately sidestepped, once the pig was just beside me I stabbed it with my flint knife on its back. I can't see its HP Gauge to judge, but I'm sure the damage wasn't enough since the boar's spine got in the way of the attack.

The boar squealed and turned back to attack and began swinging its head in a way to use its tusks as weapons. I was able to dodge most of them, but one slip past me and scraped through my flesh on the lower side of my torso.

"Ow!"

It then attempted to ram me, however I was able leap back and make some distance. I placed my hand over it to feel a bit of pain over a slightly wet texture, I took my hand of to see what it was. It was the color red, my eyes slowly widened as I saw my reflection on its surface. I knew what it was, but I just couldn't believe that I'm actually seeing it here.

Is this blood...? I never thought that I'd see this here, but this world is real after all, so there shouldn't be any surprise. Looks like a light wound, I should be fine.

I looked back at my HP Gauge to check the damage, 5HP was gone, it must have been this way since I took the full hit. My SP Gauge was also brought down as well, I had 56SP left, thats 9SP lost. I have been dodging quite frequently so that might be the reason. I turned back to the boar.

The boar's nostrils flared up and released another steamy blow. I already knew what this meant.

It's about to issue its charge attack. If it's going to be like this then this should be its... no I have to be certain.

It charged at me again, I was expecting the same attack sequence, but it wasn't. When it charged at me somewhere at the middle of it, it slowed down. I only realized when it was right in front of me attempting to do a tusk strike with its front legs slightly of the ground. This time I was able to dodge it and sustain less damage, but it didn't chase me. It was paused for a few seconds before making distance between us by taking a few steps back, it looks like it doesn't have a proper reaction time.

That now was a different pattern? Shouldn't these things only have one pattern of attack?

So patterns aren't absolute anymore. In some games most especially in RPG's an enemy's system AI of attack would work in a series of patterns, this is a very crucial piece of information to players as to how to adapt their play style to that specific enemy and is very important during large scale battles such as raids.

Once VR came that observation technique was taken to the next level, not only are we able to observe the pattern of a certain enemy, we can go into a much more specific details of habits and traits a certain enemy can do in battle.

Examples are the average time interval of certain attacks or if an enemy would make a certain attack if a certain action is taken. During battle the enemy AI could come with a multitude of different patterns that could change through the course of the battle, these patterns can change most notably when the HP is too low or if certain actions are taken, therefore it is important for the player to be aware of everything its opponent/s are doing during the course of battle to be able to adapt and think of a decent strategy.

Most people would often just look out for the pattern and in that pattern find certain areas he or she could attack, I on the other hand try to measure everything, from the maximum time it takes for an attack to be made to the way it was formed during the attack. This technique has saved me from death so many times during the course of my gaming history, however even if I measure certain things if my stats don't par with how strong my enemy is, then it would be pointless making them in the first place. So in the end one's stats must be in balance for the sort of strategy one is planning. In this case though, it's just too easy. I guess it makes it more challenging since I can't see their HP Gauge, but I should be fine for now.

Alright since there isn't really an absolute pattern, it's both good and bad. Good because if an attack is challenging a player wouldn't need to deal with the same attacks over and over again, bad because of unpredictability of the attack.

So what I have to keep a look out for aren't attack patterns it's more of habits. Not that its something new to me, I've been doing this long enough that is become automatic for me to do this during a battle.

I continued to fight with the boar for a few more minutes trying to analyze its moves and occasional habits as well as doing my best to sustain as minimal damage as possible.

We were apart again, both of us locked in a deadly staring contest waiting for one of us to make a move.

Ok, I've got it figured out...

If it makes the first move it will start with a charge, then once that's finish it will do a series of four to seven tusk strikes if it is able to stop close enough to me, and finally finish it of with a ram style kind of headbutt. If it does'nt stop it will turn around and charge at me again and would occasionally do a feint and follow it up with a fast tusk strike or some sort of attack using its hoofed feet. Other times it would do regular attacks trying to overcome with force and speed, but I've always managed to slip away.

By my estimate it would cut the distance between us in a matter of 10 to 15 seconds and would most of the time go past me if I dodge on time, it would then take about 5 to 7 seconds for it to to stop, turn towards me and start its tusk strike attack, each of those tusks strikes take 3 seconds to perform and have an average time interval between attacks of 4 to 8 seconds and it would take 4 seconds to issue its ram attack which is performed in 2 to 4 seconds. Its regular attacks using its tusks and feet have at least a 5 second interval forming a 45 degree to a 70 degree angle using its tusks going upward.

So how should I go about my attack...

Hm, I guess I'll try that out... I mean it might not work, but in my state I should still be able to fight it properly.

I ran to a nearby tree and stood a few feet in front of it and dragged my feet on the ground backwards. The boar's eyes widened and seemed to form a more serious expression, its nostrils flared up, its eyes glared at me and as it prepared for its charge its feet dragged the ground much harder to the point that there's was a small mound of soil behind its foot.

Aggro, it's an abbreviation of Aggravate. Aggro is mostly used by tanks in RPG's to keep the enemies on them rather than other players acting as supports or with low HP and Defense. Too much Aggro on one person can prove to be fatal especially on multiple enemies and strong opponents.

Looks like it worked, I increased its aggro by doing that. Since this is also real life, certain actions can trigger certain things. Though now that I think about it, I don't think it's all just aggro, it's more like its really angry at me. I guess I'll explore onto that thought later on.

It bellowed at me and charged at me once again, this time with much more intent. A few seconds before its tusks came into contact with my body I leapt out of its way and made some distance just in case there was a slight change. As I said before this boar does overestimate its use for strength and doesn't have a good reaction time to the time when I dodge, so in the end it rammed its head to the tree behind me. It was stunned and seemed to be in a disoriented state, just like how I predicted it.

Now it's my turn!

I ran up to it and issued four shallow slashes into pigs abdomen, it's health continue to diminish slowly with every slash, however the boar regained itself from its disoriented state much faster than I thought it would and got me by surprise. I was hit by the impact on my stomach, I tried to plant my feet on the ground to try and stop it, but the force of the boar's attack pushed me to the ground. I fell on my back and the boar continued to press on its attack on me.

"Ah! Oh no!"

"Oooiiinnk!"

The boar came on top of me and was about to thrust it's tusks downward at me. I caught the boar's tusk just in time before it reached my body. The boar continued to place more and more force on me. I didn't notice that I dropped my flint knife when I was hit and was locked in much more serious situation.

Tsk! I need to do something! Where's my knife!?

I began looking for my knife frantically while at the same time trying to resist the boar's attack from coming through, I can feel my arms slowly losing their strength, if this keeps up his attack will connect.

I found it just a foot from my grasp, I reached for it, once I had it in my hand and began to stab the boar's neck repeatedly.

The boar's red blood gushed out from the opening with every stab I made and spilled all over my right side and coated my knife red. The boar squealed louder and louder with every stab, it tried to pull back with all of its leftover strength. Through the blood it loosened my grip giving the boar an opportunity to escape my grasp.

The boar ran for its life into the vegetation.

Ouch, that was fun. I slowly stood back up.

Ah, I never really thought that I would feel pain in this world, though I guess it's no different from being bullied during highschool and what they did to me way worse than this. A window popped up.

+1 DEX

Tch. It got away... whatever...

I thought I could get a skill from fighting, it seems Active skill creation is a bit more complicated than I thought.

Though, I got a lot of stats from that, so I do have to train my body to increase those Attributes.

Well let's check the damage report.

I began to examine my body for my injuries. I lost 9HP from the boar's attacks, which I think is fine since I have only 45HP right now, but that is only what the system showed me, now on to the physical report. I got grazed at the side of my torso, a couple of small bruises on some parts of my body and some scratches on my arms. I don't see my HP regenerating though, oh wait real life, so the only way for these to heal is if I get some stuff to treat this, else this may take a longer time that it probably should in a game. I'll deal with that later though.

My stomach began to start churning. I placed my hand over my growling stomach.

Right food... and my breakfast just ran off. What should I do?

I then looked below me on the bloodstained grass to see a trail of thick blood heading into the forest vegetation.

Ah! It's bleeding? I did do quite the damage to it, if that's the case then I shouldn't lose chase!

I ran after the pig's blood trail further into the forest, as I followed the blood the amount of it was slowly thickening.

By the amount of blood the boar should be weakening right?

Since they took away crit hit chance, heads, limbs and vital parts should be considered as critical hit points, before it ran of I stabbed it in the neck quite a few times, its HP would have probably have been already below 20% if I could see it's Gauge, and with the the amount of blood it's bleeding it's slowly dying, would that mean my other theory is correct too?

I continued to follow after it, after a few more minutes I began to hear the sound of wheezing, the sound continued to grow louder as I followed it. I reached a small clearing and found my target struggling to continue, below it was a small pool of blood from the wound I gave.

Ah, so my theory was correct. Since this is real life, pain has influences to the current combat system as well as the will power of the player, so that would mean no matter how high one's defense is if the player gives into pain then it might decide the outcome of the battle with the players opponent in favor. If I could feel pain from my new wounds then animals and mobs shouldn't be an exception to this rule.

Hm... now that has me thinking... If they can feel pain and is not limited to one consistent and identical attack patterns then they must have some sort of intelligence right? Maybe it's too low to be compared to humans, but I'll test out that theory if I find any mobs.

The boar finally fell to the ground, from pain and blood loss. If it had an HP Gauge then then it would probably still be lessening from the bleeding. It continued to squeal from the pain of its slow demise.

I sighed at its pitiful state. It's better if I finish it already, but I can't be too cautious.

I slowly walked up to the bleeding pig, the boar's eyes noticed me, but it was too exhausted to even move. I walked close enough for it to be beneath my feet, I kneeled down, after took my flint knife out and positioned it on to the boar's head. I took one last look at the boar, the boar's sorry eyes met mine, I averted my sights and placed them on knife.

I'm sorry, but this is just how the world works.

Delivering a swift death was all I could do for the boar. I plunged my knife deep within its skull, it's body halted its struggle immediately signalling the boar's death. I took out my knife from the boar's head and wiped of the blood on the boar's skin.

\+ 20 EXP

Oh, now I see EXP! I said in sarcasm.

I know I've said it before, but this new system has so many contradicting features.

Now that's done let's start harvesting.

When you harvest animals, plants or mobs a player able to take body parts and rare materials that can be used for crafting later on. If a player doesn't harvest things like this boar it will just dissipate to dust with only dropping common things not even at a good quantity or quality, well I don't think that's the case anymore, but the point is that it will be a waste. Even if your just going to take common things the quantity along with the quality is much higher than letting it dissipate, but the rarer the beast and the rarer the material needed to be harvested a more skilled harvester with the necessary tools are needed in order to be able to harvest it.

I took the boar's body away from the small pool of blood under it to a less bloody spot. However there is just one problem...

How the hell am I supposed to do this?

When this was still a game the system would assist us by lending us dotted lines on the surface we can follow during the process, but now... I'm not seeing it anywhere. Don't tell me I have to do this, not to mention what I may see now that this is real...

I swallowed my fear, took my knife out and started harvesting.

I began using my flint knife to start skinning the boar, I slowly began cutting away at the boar's skin unsurprisingly enough the red grids that were supposedly to mask wounds were replaced with actual gore, I felt like puking when I saw the pig's guts under the skin. I continued to cut disregarding the sight and smell and was finally able to take of the boar's hide after a few minutes. A window appeared.

New skill: Harvesting obtained!  
Harvesting will be added to Support skills

New sub skill: Skinning obtained  
Skinning will be added to Harvesting Support skills

I raised it up to check how I did, to be frank it sucked. There were holes of different sizes, though not too big they were all over the hide, it wasn't all in one piece, it was in several pieces and the cuts weren't even consistent, I blame my knife for that though, I don't have the proper tool for this after all as well as the skill. Now that I think about it... When this was a game, activities would give a certain requirement for a player to do else they can't do it, but in this world they don't give a requirement, they just let you do it, the consequence however... Is a bad final product.

I sighed at myself. I have to stop realizing these things so late, its a game, but this is all real.

After I took of the boar's hide what was left of the boar was a red skinless body composed of bloody gore. I began cutting of the tusks and a leg for my meal.

Now that's done, let's get a fire going. I might as well drain the blood, I may attract predators to me if I don't do this quickly! Plus if the body isn't dissipating into dust then the body will remain and begin to decompose and soon rot, a fresh corpse will always be on the list for predators. I need to find a new spot before setting up.

After another 30 minutes I found a new spot away from my kill and finished the job there. I got [Campfire] as a crafting recipe, and [Blood Extraction] as a sub skill of [Harvesting].

Now that I have a fire going I can roast this boar's leg. I placed the boar's leg onto the [Camp Fire] and let its red meat roast on the burning flames. Windows appeared.

New skill: Cooking obtained!  
Cooking will be added to Support skills

New skill: Roasting obtained  
Roasting will be added to Cooking Support skills

New Cooking Recipe: Roasted meat was obtained  
Roasted pork will be added to list of Cooking recipe's  
Well I don't use this skill, but its a good skill anyway since I'm going to be here a while I guess having it will come in handy.

I began eating the brown roasted meat after a good time of roasting on the fire. The taste was alright, it had a somewhat crunchy texture with a satisfying after taste, however despite that it was a bit burnt on a few sides.

I gave of a downcast expression as I gulped down the meat.

If this is the quality of food I'm going to eat for the rest of my stay in this world, then there's no way I'm eating this, I'll have to set some time to level that.

I looked back at hud, my HP and SP are slowly rising back up. How did I lose SP though. I guess its used up when I move or attack extensively, this is real life after all.

I continued to eat my meal and inspect my windows. I went back to my skills menu to check what I've gained so far.

Active

None

Passive  
Hand to Hand Combat Mastery LVL: 3

One-Handed Dagger Mastery LVL: 1

Support  
Language Comprehension

-English LVL: MAX

Mathematics

-Simple Math LVL: MAX

Crafting

Recipes: 3

-Flintknapping LVL: 1

-Tool making LVL: 1

Cooking

Recipes: 1

-Roasting LVL: 1

Harvesting

-Skinning LVL: 1

-Blood Extraction LVL:1

Special  
Awakened LVL MAX

Magic Perception LVL 1

Ah, so the one that improve isn't crafting itself its the more specific skills associated to it. The labels like crafting only serve as a category for the actual skills that improve. I should really learn more of the crafting skills.

I think there will be certain items that require specific sub skills to be leveled to make them properly, but I'll worry about that later.

For Passive skills I have Hand to Hand Combat Mastery and One-Handed Dagger Mastery. Its probably in passive and not in active because it measures just how well I can attack using or not using the techniques I've learned.

Now to Special skills.

Magic Perception  
LVL: 1

The ability to sense Magic

I don't exactly understand how Magic Perception works. What it means is for me feel magic, but as of now I'm not feeling anything strange. I'll probably find out in the future.

I went on to [Awakened]

Awakened  
With the power of One of the the most powerful Gods in Infinitus. This trait Awakens your growth with unlimited potential.  
So...I think it helps me grow faster in terms of stats and EXP, though I don't understand how. Also, who's Eve? There has always been a mention of God's in the game's lore, but I have no recollection of the a goddess named Eve.

Maybe it's apart of my race, just like the symbol on my hand, that I have this trait, this makes me relieved that I got a good race. I don't know what all this means or is, but I think my time here is going to be even more fun and interesting.

My face lit up with a smile as I thought about it even more.

I looked back at my equipment, then looked back at the boar's hide.

I should make some leather armor with this, but I don't know how yet... I guess I can just sell it for now once I find a village.

Oh, right I should be looking for one of those, yeah its probably about time that I should go.

I took the boar's hide and abandoned the boar carcass and put out campfire to search for a road that could lead to a nearby village.

After about who knows how long I found my way, and someone on it.

END OF UPDATE


	4. Chapter 4

UPDATE 4: Misunderstood Greetings

After some time of exploring I found a path through the dense forest. Well not really a path, just a small clearing that led in a straight line that looked liked it might lead somewhere.. As soon as I saw it I came closer and heard a pair of voices conversing on the path.

Ah! Finally a path... Wait, what's that sound, voices?

I saw two figures strolling casually on the path, I continued to venture closer, the two figures turned out to be two girls side by side one another with their backs facing me some distance away.

Hm... I can't see them properly, but lets see their windows...

I waited patiently for several seconds, but they never appeared.

My mind went into a confused state to find my reasoning for this.

What the? It's not even appearing now?

An idea popped into my head.

Well there is some distance between us so...

I sighed. So there's a distance rule to be able to see another person's information window?

A small voice furiously shouted in frustration in my mind.

I took a deep breath and turned back to the two girls.

Though I can't see them well, I think I can see a figure of a bow and an arrow shed on the taller girl's back and some kind of bag held by the smaller girl, guessing its a basket.

The taller girl seems to be focusing on archery judging by the bow and arrows and as for the shorter girl beside her is carrying a basket with her.

Maybe they know where I can find a village. I was about to introduce myself and ask directions, but they abruptly stopped in their tracks, I did as well.

Why did they stop? Is there something wrong maybe?

The taller girl suddenly took her bow and an arrow from her arrow shed, with no more than a few seconds she wasted no time in aiming and immediately shot her arrow in my direction.

Shit! I reflexively ducked to avoid it. I looked up to see where the arrow landed and it seems it was lodged in a tree right where I was standing.

That's some accuracy... I guess all those years of being hit with dodgeballs during gym class was worth it.

The tall girl then gave me a warning in a demanding tone.

"Who's there?! You better come out now, I won't miss the next one!"

Should I just stay still? I mean I have to boar hide on my back so it might work as some form of camouflage or maybe I should book it, I mean she doesn't actually know that I'm here and could only be speculating. No, I just saw her monstrous accuracy I don't think doing any of those would be a good idea and I don't intend on dying early on.

With my reasoning in place there was only one way that would get me out of this.

Well I guess there's no other choice.

I came out of the vegetation and revealed myself with my hands up just in case.

She consciously narrowed her sights to me and steadily aimed at my head ready to shoot at any moment. The small girl on the other hand hid behind her shuddering to take a peek. Cold sweat began to fall as I felt her sharp gaze trying to read me. Depending on how this goes I really may die in any second, I have to be cautious of what I say to her to let me go.

She then began to interrogate me.

"Who are you? Why are you following us?"

Following? I literally just got here. Well, I guess anyone would be suspicious of man just casually be walking around and out of the woods, but right now I have to play my cards right, I can't just tell them personal information, it may be a problem in the future if I tell just anybody.

"First of all I don't think I should give my name to anybody I meet especially a person who is threatening me with a bow and arrow. Second I just got here out of the woods I wasn't following you."

Seemingly unsatisfied by my answer she answered back demanding more information.

"You have a point, but in this situation you don't have a the right to argue. Its better you say it already along with the reason your here."

She's got a point too...

I sighed in defeat and took a deep breath before speaking.

My name is Zach Fallen, I was in the woods trying to find my way out, then I found this road, just so happened that I past by you two, and that's it."

Her eyes began to examine me from head to toe, especially looking at my small wounds, the blood and the Boar hide on my back. Satisfied she lowered her bow and placed her arrow back in her arrow shed.

She then began to apologize with a reassured expression.

"Alright, we believe you. You can put your hands down."

I placed my hands down and sighed in relief.

Ok, so it should be fine for me to go closer now right?

I slowly walked closer to the two girls, as I moved closer the smaller girl who was hiding came out trying to mask a worried expression I then felt a sort of aura around her.

What is this feeling...? I can feel it coming from the shorter girl... it's probably nothing, but I should be cautious.

I stopped walking a few feet away from them.

Okay I should be able to see their windows now right? This time it appeared, though it wasn't of much use...

Name ?  
Age ?  
Gender: Female  
Race ?

Same with the Boar its not showing their HP Gauges, so I guess I would need something to help me see it later on. Would there even be... No Arthur would never do this without placing a way to get it. Well if there is a way I'm finding it.

Also their windows are lacking all the information I want, well of course, I'm guessing unless someone has something like a "Mind Reading or Clairvoyance" Skill can they be able to automatically see stuff like this.

Oh, now that's a thought, now that I'm here that shouldn't be entirely impossible right?

Hmph, Hmph. New goal: If there is, find a skill that can see the information of the other.

I then turned to their appearances...

The small girl was dressed with a Green long sleeved overall skirt and wore a hat. She had short brown colored hair with long bangs that covered her forehead reaching her eyebrows. She had kind eyes and a cute face that made her look like a little sister.

The taller girl had a long ponytail reaching her waist. She was dressed in gray clothes her top being a short sleeveless vest with her breasts that could explode out of her chest at any moment. Under it was a white shirt that covered any other opening the vest left out, however only covering the top half of her torso.

The only problem is that the vest did not entirely cover her voluptuous chest, there was a zipper but it as only zipped at her neck and a clip at the bottom to keep it together, but in the middle of it her breasts can be seen even with the white shirt under it.

I tried my damndest not to look at them and kept my eyes on her face instead. Her face was beautiful, along with her body she would seem as if she was a super model.

"Your name was Zach right? Sorry for the earlier misunderstanding, some stuff has been going on so I was a bit on edge. My name is Alice by the way."

"Yeah. It's fine."

I then turned to the shorter girl, her expression changed upon realizing my gaze on her and tried to formally introduce herself confidently.

"M-My name is Terra. Nice to meet you."

"Um, Same here..."

Their window then appeared again with updated information, but only with their names nothing else. So it does only give information one knows about, but probably only information I am sure that I know are true.

I then heard a small rattling sound a short distance away of from us most notably Terra. I turned towards it, it was a small pebble shaking.

Why is it shaking?

I turned back to Terra for a short moment. The aura around her slightly increased, Terra noticed my eyes and made a startled expression. The pebble began to shake more intensely. Then an idea popped into my head...

Is there a sort of connection between the two?

Or... Wait is she?

"I-Is there something wrong me?"

"Ah. No, sorry if I may have worried you, but if I may ask. Are you a Gnome by any chance?"

Upon hearing Terra and Alice made blank expressions and in the next second Terra immediately made a sound in fright.

"EEK!"

Uh oh... Did I get it right?

I turned to both of them with haunted expressions, Terra quickly made a few steps back away from me towards a tree to hide behind it. Alice on the other hand had already took her bow with an arrow already drawed in it.

Oh no, and just as I thought I was out of it...

"Where did you get that information?! Are you a mage from one of the associations sent to capture us?!"

"Whoa! S-Sorry, I'm not! Ever since I had gotten close to you two, I've felt an aura around Terra, also that pebble over there is trembling intensely."

I pointed towards it which was still shaking. Alice's eyes looked towards it and turned to Terra who was hiding herself behind a nearby tree.

"T-Terra I thought you said you had your magic under control?!"

"I'm sorry! I didn't feel any magic from him so I thought that he was like everyone else!"

Magic? Was that what I was feeling? This is probably the work of Magic Perception. That's weird was there any sort of feature like that when this was a game? Surely not. When this world used to be a game, there was no way of telling if a person was a mage or not other than what they had as equipment. This is the first time I'm feeling this...

Alice scratched her head trying to figure out what to do next, then approached me.

"Um, could you not tell anyone about this? We'll be in trouble if people find out about this."

What? Why would they be in trouble? There has never really been a problem revealing someone's race before, because you can actually see it when one of the windows show up. Ah wait... they don't really seem like one of the players that were sent here, and considering this world is fully interactive system they should be one of the NPC's the game has generated.

When this used to be a game the system would generate loads of unique quests daily making them appear at random locations, but these quests only last for so long and disappear if no one takes it, but sometimes it could be a very big quest that could alter the game so if one does not take it or inform about it, it could very well be the end of the game for everyone playing, hence the reason why it was called an interactive game, so people are always paranoid when stuff like this happened and take it on even if they win or lose. I better ask just in case...

"Why? I don't see the problem of people knowing her race."

"Huh? Don't you know of the slave traders?"

"Slave traders?"

"Yeah they catch all sorts of races and sell them for profit, if they find out about Terra they'll capture her for sure! I thought you'd know when you found out, but it seems your not from around here."

When did this game have slaves? Sure it fits the fantasy world kind of feel , but why would Arthur place this? Back in the old world, it wasn't only games that I placed a considerable amount of time in, I was also quite the book worm and other hobbies that are "Shut in" related. In most stories that I've read once a person becomes a slave they lose all their rights and are compelled to follow whoever they are contracted to, slaves like Alice said come in all sorts, the more rare they are the more expensive.

I guess I can see why they are worried, they don't seem like they're bad people after all so I'll accept for now.

"I understand, I'll stay quiet. So Terra are you really?"

"Y-Yes I'm a Gnome."

I've already taken note that the game ran on a race and skill system and not a class system. Depending on the race chosen it could raise one's stats indefinitely making it higher or lower, this was important since one can only get so much Attribute points in the game from the start very quickly. The race system also grants certain benefits and detriments if chosen, either physically or magically.

However there is a catch to some of the races most especially the magical ones, an example would be some of the magical races like the elementals or spirits, the catch to these races is that if a person pushes the limit of their magic capacities without sufficient MP too many times then it would result in almost instantaneous death to the avatar.

One of the race associated to Magic are Gnomes. Gnomes are your basic definition of Earth Spirits or elementals, in the game it was a race that had the highest affinity for the natural magic element of Earth, this doesn't mean they can't try to learn other elements its just that earth is the best element for them to learn, their roles used in parties were AOE, CC and Defense mages. The downside to this races was like I said if they use too much magic very frequently then it would result in the avatar's death, the result of this race however turns them back into the soil they once came from. There is a way though on how to stop this, and this applies for all spirits, they must be contracted to another player that uses Magic.

According to the lore, Spirits are deemed incomplete in terms of Magic power. When a spirit of the natural elements is in Elf Territory give them an edge due to the abundant magic around the area and inside that area a spirit can fully utilize their abilities to the fullest with almost unlimited magic power. However once outside that area, they must be contracted to a contractor to give some of their magic to be able to complete themselves and be able to be the same as they were in Elf Territory, the only difference is that they don't have an unlimited magic supply and less power, but can be used at their normal efficiency. They can go over their limits since they are complete. In return the Spirit would travel together with her Contractor.

Astral upholded this sort of lore, if a person who is a spirit would be away from their contractors no longer than 3 days they will end up dying. So it was important for those going for this race to choose their partners wisely.

Now what's weird is, what is a Gnome doing all the way out here? Shouldn't she be near Elven territory being a spirit of the natural elements? I mean that's where most of the nature spirits are born or even spawn.

Is Alice her contractor? If a spirit is outside of Elven territory without a contractor then they are in a great of danger in terms of magic supply and power or in this world's case slavery. I should probably ask later.

I then looked back at Terra with her still frightened expression.

I know these are NPC's, but seeing a little girl with that kind of expression is not something I want to see. I should probably do something to change the mood. Lets see... Oh, I have an idea.

"Ah, so that's why your name is Terra, like the earth right?"

She bobbed her head a few seconds after.

"It's a nice and fitting name for you."

She shot a surprised and amazed look to me with a slight blush. I was relieved to know that it changed the atmosphere around us.

"Wow, he got it quite quickly! The only other person who got it that fast was A-"

Terra then dashed from behind the tree and pulled on Alice's arm with a serious expression. Alice gave of an "oops" expression covering her mouth and after smiled while rubbing her nape after realizing what Terra had done.

"Sorry, we can't say"

It seems they're trying to hide someone or even more people. Its a bit suspicious, but considering their worry its only natural that they are cautious. I should also probably check by "The Universal IO Code" as we players like to call it, but I don't think it would become a big problem, not to mention depending on how I act on quests like this may also detriment me. Example is helping a criminal, you can be marked for death and be hunted by death squads be it AI or other players. So I don't want to know too much or be too associated with them if they get into any trouble depending on the circumstance.

"Its alright, I understand your position so I don't want to pry."

She formed a relieved and amazed expression before saying her thanks.

"Thank you."

Now that this whole situation is out of the way I should probably ask where I can find a village.

"Hey, um. Do you girls know where I can find the nearest village from here?"

"Ah, well not really a village, a bit bigger, a city."

Cities are like what they are back in the real world, with big business. It's the best place for players to make a good payday or if anyone would want anything rare or special.

A City, well just my luck. Though I wanted to avoid big landmarks, I have no other choice but to go.

"That's fine too."

"If you follow down this road in that direction you should be able to reach it by an hour from here."

An hour? I better be on my way then.

"Thank you, I should probably be headed here before nightfall."

"Oh, you have plenty of time its only an hour past noon. You should be fine. Wanna tag along with us? We're headed to same one."

Well... I guess it won't be too bad, since they know the area more well than I do, I should ask them for anything I don't know and who knows Arthur may have changed and added new content I don't know yet, though I shouldn't use content though when I ask them.

Now there is only one problem left... No I shouldn't be thinking of that now!

"Um, sure."

"Okay let's go."

We then continued to walk down the road for quite some time, though it was rather quiet...

My face formed a sour expression with my lips shut tight as I walked down the road with the girls next to me. Okay now that problem that I was talking about before, I'm really unsociable especially towards girls. I never had the chance to even talk to girls due to my inpopularity at my highschool, well not like I cared since it never bothered me. A person would think that even though I don't know how to talk to girls in real life I should be able to talk to a girl in game right?

For most players and for me, that would be true, but not in VR. If it was like the Pioneer games that came before, the ones that covered your face behind a computer monitor then yes, but in VR even though one can make their own appearance in the game it still doesn't break the fact that you are talking face to face to a person and also the system locks on to the gender of the player so it would be totally accurate to know that the girl your talking to is actually a girl and not some creepy crossdresser.

Maybe the issue of not being able to talk to a girl in a VRMMORPG is only tied down to me, but I've never talked to any other girl besides my aunt or if in game it's only for a party for a quest once that's over I return to being a solo.

If a person asked why I would be a solo in an MMORPG, well for a few reasons. One it gives me the chance to improve my own abilities and makes me more reliant on myself than others. Two all the loot goes to me and me alone, most parties would break down for the sole reason of not being able to divide the drops equally and even guilds go to war for them which is understandable as a fellow player. Lastly, yeah. I just don't like being around others that often...

Putting that aside I tried to think of a way to break the awkward atmosphere between us.

I should probably open up with something small...

"So..., uh how old are you two?"

Brilliant, the first thing I ask and it's that. I didn't want to make them uncomfortable around me, I just needed something to say. However they were unfazed and answered normally.

"Nineteen"

"I'm fourteen"

"And, You?"

They looked towards me, waiting for my answer.

"Eighteen "

"Oh, okay"

Their windows then appeared with updated info.

Name Alice  
Age 19  
Gender Female  
Race Human  
Name Terra  
Age 14  
Gender Female  
Race Gnome

They looked back at the road ahead unchanged by my answer. Silence then filled the atmosphere once more, it just made it more awkward for me now that I was the first one who spoke, I really do have no idea how to talk to girls. Well at least I know how old they are. I placed my hand over my face to cover my embarrassed look.

Alice noticing my expression, she asked me...

"Hey, are you usually this quiet?"

I turned to both of them. Well she figured me out, so I guess I have to come out honest for this question. I looked back at her...

"Oh, um yeah sorry it's just that talking isn't really my thing especially to girls"

I unconsciously placed my hand rubbing my nape. She gave a refreshing smile and looked towards me.

"Oh it's fine, you actually remind us of one of our friends. She doesn't usually speak to a lot of people, but she's a good person."

Alice commented me with a smile, all I could do was smile back at her. Well that comment helped me be more comfortable and more relax around her. I could finally get that of my chest.

I then began to talk to them a bit more relaxed.

"Do you... go to this city often?"

"It's the closest to our home, the people are nice though they still don't know about Terra also the facilities are alright. Since your new, I'll take you on a tour when we get there."

"Ah, Thanks. Could you name me some of them?"

"They've got smiths, a huge marketplace, some specialty shops and what's more a bath house."

Alice then paused for a few seconds before giving her next remark.

"You should probably visit it when you get there."

It took me a few seconds to understand what she meant by that until I smelled the air around me. A pungent smell from my clothes entered my nose with disgust already forming through my expression.

Guh...! It stinks! Though it's not that bad its not faint either. This game never had blood before so this issue is a first. I'll have to wash this off later, thank god she told me, though I feel a bit ashamed that she was the one who pointed it out before me.

"Sorry, I didn't notice. This is a bit embarrassing."

"Oh, we don't mind we got used to the smell of blood a long time ago. I usually go hunting so its only apparent that I smell it. Terra on the other hand handles meat quite often has to drain it out before she prepares a meal though she's not as used to it as I am."

I turned to Terra who was a bit of some distance away from me with a dejected expression on her face.

"Ah, I'll step away if you want."

"N-No its fine! I'm trying to get used to it myself so please stay where you are."

"Alright then...Oh."

That's strange, I just noticed that the aura around Terra from before is gone now.

Terra gave me a puzzled expression.

"What?"

"I can't feel that aura from earlier."

"Aura? You mean my magic? I was able to suppress it a bit lower. It seems your only able to feel simple magic"

"Are you perhaps a mage from one of the cities?"

"Um... no."

Alice's and Terra's jaw dropped and reacted in total surprise.

"What?!"

I was a bit shocked by their answers it seemed what I told them had some impact.

"Huh? What's with your reactions?"

Alice then began to explain...

"You see according to what most people say, you have to train to be a beginner level mage to be even be able to feel the slightest bit of magic from others or objects and to also be able to use magic itself. This process takes weeks of training to be able to focus the magic in one's body, but there are those who are naturally gifted with the ability to sense even the basic traces of magic even without the necessary mental training and are able to train in magic much faster than regular people. To the Magic associations people like you are what they call Talented."

I was stunned by the amount of information I was just given by Alice.

Hm, then I guess my goal of becoming a magic swordsman shouldn't be too far out of my reach. Also that has me thinking... This is according to Arthur a copy of my body back in the real world so I had this ever since I was born so why is it only now that I am able to use or feel magic? It seems I have to explore on to this another time.

"Wow, then I'm quite special."

I said with a proud expression and tone, but was crushed by the next statement.

"Yes, but as of now you can only sense the very basic premise of magic, you would still need to train for some time to be able to use magic. There are stories of others who can sense the most advance areas of magic when they are born, they are regarded as geniuses in the mage associations."

Sigh, it doesn't feel so great to know that your special when others are much more special than you. No, that would make me sound greedy and spoiled I shouldn't be thinking about it in that way. Anyway...

"Do you know how long?"

"If I had known I would have told you during my explanation, it varies per person. There are also stories before that some people even people born with that gift cannot use magic."

I don't think I want that happening to me now that I'm here, let's not think about that for now. Wait how does she know this much?

"That is... a frightening thought..."

"Pfft! I'm just kidding! There's no way such talent wouldn't be limited to just that."

"That's a relief. Also how do you know this?"

"Read it in a book once."

"Ah, I see."

So how is Terra able to sense magic then? Well she is one of the magical races so she should have been born with it already. Oh I should probably ask before I forget...

"Oh, right. Alice are you Terra's contractor?"

"Ah, no. I don't have any magic to be able to support if she ever needs any."

"If your not her contractor, then why is she away from Elven territory?"

"Well she was never initially from an Elven forest or village, we one day just found her in these woods a couple of years ago."

What the? Well according to the lore of Gnomes an influx of spirit power could sometimes pile up in certain places and would coincidentally go into the earth creating Gnomes without the necessary methods of the Elves, so I guess it would make sense if it were that way.

"She doesn't have someone to contract with for now, but she doesn't use her abilities so often anyway."

I looked towards her, she averted her gaze from my line of sight. Maybe I shouldn't say anything about this, she must have her reasons plus if she was contracted then she would end up probably getting caught.

"Ah, I see."

"Anyway I'll introduce you to someone when we get to the city... Oh we're already at the forest's edge."

I looked ahead of us and saw a lush pasture that extended for a few miles, it looks like it could be wide enough to be used for some kind of war re-enactment. Just ahead a smooth white stone brick wall just some distance away from us. Behind it was the sight of smoke and the sound of a roaring crowd.

END OF UPDATE


	5. Chapter 5

UPDATE 5: The City

We had just stepped out of the forest and were continually walking towards the village Alice mentioned. To tell you it wasn't only us going to the City there were many carriages that could be seen going in and out of the village to who knows where as well as people. They all wore different clothing, some dressed like knights others like warriors and ones with robes and they were heading to the forest that we had just come out off.

After we had cleared the distance of the pasture, we approached a wall almost similar to cement, with a large wooden door opened at the mouth of the entrance. It looked like it can defend against large scale attacks. To be specific on its durability, if someone had a catapult it won't go down with firing a few shots. On the top of the wall a few guards patrolling it from the other side looking down at us as well as in front of the gate.

We arrived at the city quite faster than I thought. Well, I'm not sure since I don't have a watch right now, I wonder if I can find one though... Well let's put that aside for later. We then approached the wall's gates, at the top of the gate's entrance there was a sign with strange symbols on it.

Wait, what are those characters? Well as I suspected the language was of course different, in the game's lore it mentioned that each race had its own language, though it was never actually seen. I guess I'm going to have to learn a new language now that I'm here.

Wait if that's the case then...how exactly am I speaking with them if I don't know the language?

I was thinking the soldiers to be cautious, but their expression changed when they saw Alice and Terra.

The soldiers wore a simple attire, a full set of metal armor, others with pieces of leather armor wielding a broad sword or spear with a shield or a bow fit for their stature. They wore welcoming expressions and smiles towards Alice and Terra to me however it was more of questionable, suspicious or just puzzled in general. Probably because of the blood and tears on my clothes.

Then one of the men came from the front gate to greet us. Wielding a sword and a buckler on his side, he was a young man probably in his early 20's with green eyes and with brown hair. He was wearing some brown looking padding on his body from the top down except his head. He had a delighted and a kind of happy go lucky expression on his face.

"Alice, Terra. Nice to see you."

Alice and Terra responded in kind tones, it seems they are acquainted to this person.

"You too Sam."

"Hi."

The man then turned to me. He became bug-eyed upon looking at the state of my clothing and gave a his response in a frightened tone.

"Whoa! What happened to you? You got blood everywhere!"

Why are you overreacting? My HP was already at full, the scratches and wounds had already made blood clots that stopped the bleeding. I'm a bit blue in some areas, but it should come of after sometime.

"Uh. Yeah, I had a bit of trouble catching a meal."

He then saw the brown boar hide I was carrying and expressed relief. He went close to Alice and placed his hand at the side of his face before whispering.

"Oh I see. Alice who's this?"

Hey you know I can still hear you even if you do that right?

Alice calmly answered him

"His name is Zach. We found him in the woods not long ago. He wanted to know where he can find a village so we took him here."

"Ah, so that's how it is."

He then directed his voice to me.

"Are you an adventurer? By any chance Zach?"

Adventurer? In some games players are dubbed adventurer when they spawn or is a job that must be applied to be one like how any job would be. Adventurers are what the name means people who go on adventures, what that adventure may be differs for everyone. From my knowledge they are people who are hired by the guild to do quests and help others if ever, in some sources they name them as lawless bound to nothing and do what they want from the get go. 

In Infinitus Online, everyone would just do what they wants and plays the game as an RPG as anyone else would. We were never called adventurers nor has the name ever appeared in it before. We were just regular people who fought against monsters and the NPC's would call us by the name we tell them or if the system has something already planned out, say whatever the system programmed them say, so this is something I am unknown to. I want to gain the trust of these people if ever and I sure as hell don't want to make people get the wrong idea so I should just tell the truth.

"No, I'm not. I'm just your regular guy."

His eyes looked at me just like the way Alice looked at me at our first meeting moments ago. He responded in a way that I was totally unprepared for.

"What? A regular guy without any combat training isn't someone who can kill a boar and get away with so much as those wounds."

Everyone at the gate looked at me with a suspicious look and even Alice and Terra looked at me with questionable expressions. Cold sweat began to pour down from my own nervousness.

Shit... I forgot. Four years of VR has really trained me in combat, though I never showed it in real life because I don't have my stats in the game or the skills I had and the fact that my lack of self confidence in my untrained body could have gotten me beat up even more by the bullies at school than prevent them so I didn't. But in here, that's a different story. I didn't think he'd counter with that though...what the hell am I going to do now.

I still have the flint knife, it's in my pocket. Though I don't think me attacking would do a thing and would only end with me dead. Great, first day and I already messed up with getting the trust of people. Well if anything goes down I'm making a hasty retreat as fast as possible, but first let's try and clear things up.

I was about to start talking to him, but then he gave of a merry laugh.

"Haha! You should have seen the look on your face!"

I was unsure of what to do, I stared at him with complete and honest question marks over my head saying "Why is he laughing all of a sudden?" After a few seconds of laughing over my worried expression.

I looked over to Alice and Terra, it didn't seem like they were unknown to his behavior and kept most of their composure. I looked over the guards behind him with hands over their faces and others sighing as if they have seen this before.

When he stopped and gave me an honest smile to dismiss my thoughts of worry.

"Sorry, about that. I was curious to see what kind of expression you'd make if I said that. From the look you just gave it tells me your not a bad guy judging from how you reacted when I asked.

I sighed in relief upon hearing his statement.

"It's fine, I understand. You are one of the guards after all."

"I'm Sam by the way. Your name was Zach right? It's nice to meet you, welcome to Lorin City."

So this village is called Nara, I'll make it a point to ask sometime to learn how the language is read.

"Yeah. Same here."

"Well since you're new I'll take you on a tour of of Lorin City!"

Upon him saying one of the guards from behind shouted as well as others with frustrated and agitated looks.

"SAM NO SLACKING!"

Sam responded with a cheerful and mischievous tone of response with a smile on his face.

"It'll only take a few minutes I'll be back before you know it!"

Alice gave Sam a look as if she has seen this before.

"How many times is it now Sam? Your hundredth?"

"Hey I'm not getting caught this time. ninety-sixth for your information."

Alice sighed then gave of a smile.

"Ok, Take us on one of your famous tours then."

"Alright then follow me!"

Yeah, I was right. This guy really is a happy go lucky kind of person. Oh well. He doesn't seem like the kind of guy I should be wary about, and what he said a while ago was just his job so I don't think he'll cause me any trouble, plus he's giving me a free tour of the village.

"The first stop is the residential area. This is only one part of the large space dedicated to the townspeople living here, here there are different houses that you can either rent or buy and also different specialty shops. You could probably find an inn somewhere around here to stay the night."

"Thanks."

Well, not that it would matter. I don't actually sleep in inns to be honest. After I raised enough building skills like carpentry, I leave my inn and make a settlement near a place I can maximize farming for drops and grinding. I didn't want to waste money on inns since there was practically no use when you have house of your own, sure it gets attack by whatever there was in the area, but what point of this being a survival MMORPG if there is no survival?

The streets were buzzing with all sorts of chatter. Children playing on the streets, horse drawn carriages carrying bags going down the middle of the street, youth's happily walking side by side with their partners and all of the sort. Practically everyone was living their everyday lives here.

Nothing too out of the ordinary, seems like a regular street to me wherever there is a village, though this seems a bit more busy and populated from most of the ones I've seen when this was a game.

We followed Sam through the gate to give me a tour, as we walked through the streets people were casually greeting and saying "Hi" to Alice and Terra.

"Hi, Alice!" said a passerby

"Hello" she replied back in a smile

"G'mornin Terra" said another passerby.

"Good morning" she replied back

"Terra come play with us!" One of the children on the street called out.

"Maybe another time, I need to go somewhere now." Terra replied back.

"Hello Alice, beautiful as always. How has it been?" A woman on the street greeted.

"Oh, everything is fine thank you." Alice replied back with a kind smile.

A few more "Hi's and Hello's coming from almost everyone who past by us. They seem to really trust her to be able to talk to them like that, same for Alice and Terra, though I don't think they know Terra's a Gnome.

"They really seem to know you."

"We try to act normal around here so that we wouldn't be suspected. Due to some circumstances we were able to make some connections here, also the people here are quite favorable. Everyone is nice once you get to know them, we have have a safe place to relax and Terra gets to be a kid."

"I am not a kid! I just like playing with them every once in awhile..."

Alice giggled at Terra's flustered expression.

"Fufufu..."

Terra began to slightly blush and showed an annoyed expression.

"Muu...Stop laughing at me!"

I quietly watched from the sidelines as Terra and Alice talked.

Terra really does uphold that little sister type, Alice is a dependable and smart person, I wonder who else is with them. Though I probably shouldn't ask that up front. Well it's a good thing they have a safe place for them to settle down and blow of steam.

We continued to chat along the way, then something caught my attention in front of us.

I was then hearing the loud noises headed in the direction we're going to, it seems to that there is a lot of people there. We approached an arched like entrance and on the other side were stands and too many people to count walking through the street.

"Here is the market place, where you can trade and sell your items. There are stalls and shops that sell things like food to stalls that sell high grade potions. You could find almost anything here, you can also find some rare products here, but I sure you everything is of decent quality."

I looked around me, there were signs everywhere on each of the stands and stalls with similar looking symbols not native to the ones back on the old world, well not any that I have seen. If this is the language humans speak then what about the other races? I'm really going to make some life changes to adapt to this world.

I should probably ask if there's a school where I can borrow some books from so I can learn the language in my spare time.

"There's so much people here just in this one marketplace"

"Believe it or not this is the only city in the vast region of Korath so it's only typical that people will come here to trade."

Well this is a city after all.

Wait he said region then that means that this is a country, I'll probably need to look into this another time if I'm going to go anywhere. Other than that it seems the state of civilization in this world is close to the middle ages, however they do have their own advancements mostly to do with magic, machinery, and alchemy especially in this sort of world which make them much more advanced, but still far from 20th century technology.

I can probably sell this boar hide if I find a leather working stand right? Or probably any other stand for that matter. If anyone of them buys it. I should probably think about asking some of the people to teach me some skills while I'm here, hopefully they'll accept.

There were all sorts of people going through the streets from simple vendors selling vegetables to men clad in metal armor assumingly adventurers buying potions and unknown materials. This market is booming with business, I don't think I'll have any problems financially, once I start selling stuff that is...

As we pass by different stalls I saw one giving what looked to be coins in my eyes, so that hit me with a question. Since everything is new did they change the system of currency as well? I was about to ask until an idea came to my mind and I immediately held back my tongue.

"Um, Sam-"

"Yeah, Zach?"

I can't just be asking about stuff like this out in the open it would make me look suspicious if I didn't know. What would people think if an eighteen year old man didn't know about a probably world wide known currency. Also, I can't just be announcing to people "Hey, I'm from a different world so can you please enlighten me-" No! of course no one would believe me. I gotta think of a believable story for him to buy.

Sam looked at me with a question mark over his head.

"What's wrong Zach you look as if you're in deep thought."

"Ah, sorry. I wanted to tell you that I don't know much about what has been going on in this world from the time I was born since I was raised in a secluded village away from society. The Chiefs and elders always say that I shouldn't make any interaction to anything outside our village, it was an ancient tradition that may bring suffering to our people."

Upon hearing this Alice, Terra and Sam gave me a surprised look.

"Then why are you out here?"

"I wanted to see what it was like outside of the village, can't be as bad as what they said right? So I escaped recently and have been on a journey ever since."

Sam gave me a peculiar look while analyzing my story for a few seconds before giving a response. I tried to keep myself from acting strangely as so that they would buy my story.

Crap... Please buy it...

"Ok, I understand. Ask me anything you want to know."

Phew. Almost thought I was going to break for a second there, didn't think it would have worked, but I guess I lucked out. I swear if he asked how I know how to speak the human language if my village was secluded I would have been done for.

"If that's the case then I might as well give a lecture on the way."

"Thank you for your consideration. By the way, um what year is it?"

"Oh c'mon? Even if you are from a far away village you guys have to at least know the year."

"We don't!"

"If I'm correct it's 25920 AAW."

25920?! Well I mean, I shouldn't be surprised by this, it's a fantasy world after all. Well at least I know, but since that is the year, why does human civilization look like it's in the middle ages? Besides the whole fantasy aspect, they should be more technologically advanced than modern day by now. It's a trivial matter, I'll just let it be I guess.

We continued to walk. Suddenly Alice's voice came to my ear.

"I've been through that kind of phase before, being curious of the outside."

Wha?! Alice? That shocked me for a moment. I regained my composure and calmly answered her.

"Really? What happened to you?"

"I grew up in one of the capital cities, my life was quite nice, I could have been one of those people not having a care in the world of what happened outside, but that wasn't what happened. They always preached that there was only danger on the outside and that I would be safe inside the walls, but I knew that wasn't true. One day I decided to go on an adventure and left the city. There were some ups and downs and after some time it landed me here. In the end it all worked out."

She then gently rubbed Terra's head, Terra reacted by giving of a kind smile.

"I see. That's good."

I do think that she's telling the truth, but that's is not the whole story is it? I can feel a touch of sadness and regret, but behind it a strong determination to do something. I don't know what it is, but I not going to force out something she's not comfortable with sharing, guess I'm not the only one who's been through a rough time through life, she probably has it worse.

Wait... since when did NPC's have feelings? I've heard of Astral, VR companies and even the most advanced science divisions researching for self-aware AI to be used for our daily lives and could probably result into a fully connected world. However, I or anybody else have never heard or seen any progress that has been made concerning this project in the last few years.

So did they finally figure it out or what? I'll have to think about this another time though, right now I've got a little history to learn.

"Alright so what do you want to know?"

"What is the current currency this world is using?"

"The standard currency of Tellus are by three types of coin pieces. Copper, Silver and Gold, Copper being the lowest form and Gold being the highest. One silver coin is equivalent to a hundred copper pieces same goes for gold pieces. That's it."

Ah, the standard RPG currency I see. This is the most common form of currency that almost every MMORPG inherits on its own, there have been some that have tweaked it to form some originality, but this was its origin.

Wait he also mentioned something else, he called this world Tellus right? Again I've never heard of that before.

"Tellus?"

This time Alice spoke up and yet again she displayed her vast knowledge on the subject.

"Tellus is what we call our world, well this world. There are only four known realms that have been discovered. One is ours Tellus, the next is the Inferna. The best description to describe it, is Hell a chaotic world where Demons reign. Opposing it is the Heavenly Aether, a proclaimed paradise home to the Angels. And all together they make up our world Infinitus"

Well, their names are different, but the concept is still the same, Earth, Heaven and Hell. These were considered places of great danger when this was a game and should only be explored by high level players who had thorough experience of the game. Well mostly Hell, though even Heaven had its dangers, as a one of the high level players I've been through and back multiple times and have gotten much stronger since the first time I played, but the difficulty of fighting in either of the two realms was about a hundred times more harder than fighting on earth.

Also I don't know what basis of language their names come from, buts its not english, something close though. I still need to check if the lore is still the same as how I know it.

"Is that all?"

"To be honest I don't know a lot about either of the two ancient races, heck no one does entirely maybe in the capitals, but surely not here."

I turned to Sam and Terra for a short moment, and they shook their head implying they don't know much either.

"Though if anyone does know anything about them it would be the Ancient war."

"The Ancient War?"

I was prepared to be bombarded by a mountain of lore, but...

"But! That's a history lesson for another time! Let's not ruin the mood we have with something boring."

"It's not boring! I in fact find that lesson interesting when I first learned it. Though there isn't much information about it presented in schools even of the highest standard, it's intriguing to find out more about it."

"You're such a buzz kill to learning Sam, I assume you didn't get any good grades when you were in school."

"Ouch! I'm not that dumb! I at least passed"

They had a small argument and stopped after a short while.

"I-It's fine. I'm interested, though I think it would be better for me to learn about that some other time, right now I just want to get to know the city that I'm probably going to be staying in for a while."

"Yeah, that's true. Well there is a public library here anyway if you really wanted to know what it's about later on. I just want to say that it is not boring!"

Library huh? I should probably pay it a visit, once… I learn… how to speak their language… A silent sigh echoed in my head as I sat in dark room with a lonely light shining upon me.

It's going to be a while for me to visit...

"Anyway! Let's get a move on! Don't want to be wasting too much time around this!"

Moving on, we approached a uniquely built structure with much decor on it along with tons of people in and out, the noise was probably comparable to the marketplace.

"Here, we have a bank they will store all your items and money, all you need to do is make an account and have a license and you can withdraw your money where ever there is a bank, but items can only be stored at a specific bank."

So they have banks here too, maybe I should get a bank account while I'm here, it isn't good to be carrying too many assets. The only problem is that if the bank gets robbed. Believe me, I've seen enough banks get robbed and enough death squads released to stop them from doing anymore.

Even I would sometimes join the PK if it got personal, because keep in mind that it was an interactive system so not only were they stealing from the players, but from NPC's as well and would at some point if not taken care of would affect the economy of the game lessening the value of the currency piece by piece resulting in inflation. If this ever happened every player all over the server assemble to the size of an army of a few hundred. Once it reached a thousand resulting in total war for a few weeks, though I would stay out of it if these kinds of events ever happened. However this has mostly been avoided, thanks to the active community we would resolve it in just a matter of days or weeks. I just hope the same problem never gets too out of hand in this world.

He then brought us to a fairly large stone brick building with a good design to it. There was a sign with a sword and shield picture on it with the words barracks under it. At the entrance there were two men with full plated armor guarding the entrance to the building.

"Here we have the barracks this is where we train and stay as soldiers of course. You can come here if you have any problems or if you spot anything fishy going on in town."

"Soldiers? I thought you were just typical guards."

"Sam's Father, the Governor of this City is a retired knight captain, he trains the soldiers and the guards of this City. Sam has been training under him ever since. Once he passes his test in about a year from now he'll be a full fledged knight."

"That's right! My dream is to head to the capital once I become one, there I'll be able to protect others and do my father proud."

"Yeah, that's if you don't slack off during training and duty."

"Hey! Those times were weeks apart from each other and started about a few years ago!

The two idly chatted while me and Terra watched on the sidelines.

Dreams huh? Come to think of it... I don't have one. I've to be honest never thought about it. Well nevermind that, it doesn't matter now the only goal I have is to survive. Though are NPC's supposed to have this much of a conscience? I mean it could just be another form of dialogue the system auto generated, but are these really just NPC's...

I was in deep thought until a soft voice broke through...

"Zach, is there something wrong?"

It was Terra, she must've noticed.

"Ah, no it's fine. C'mon we should catch up a bit."

We continued to follow Sam and showed me two more building beside the barracks...

"Near it we have our doctor quarters and our weapon storage."

The doctor quarters mainly looked like a large clinic made with the same material as the barracks. Doesn't seem like there was a lot going on though judging from how there were few people going in and out. Thats a good sign. On the other side the weapon storage seemed to be positioned connecting to the barracks and basically looked like a small barn. Each of those two had two guards in full plated armor guarding their entrances, they seem like the mean business. That's another good sign though showing that this city in terms of security is quite adequate.

He then led me to another large building that had a simple but sturdy design. It seemed to be quite popular since there were a lot of people going in and out of the building. I can also hear the flow of water and large amounts of steam pumping out of it.

"This is the town's bath house. Everyone in the village uses this regularly on a daily basis. There is a small fee, but it's only a few copper also keep in mind that they close at eight o'clock sharp and open at five in the morning."

Ah, so this is the bath house. Hm... Well it accurately fits its name. I'll probably visit this later. Again I've never had an issue regarding smell before in this world so this is a first time for me to be doing this.

While I was thinking, he grabbed me by my arm and locked me in his elbow pressing me downwards

"But, you want to know what's the best part about this is?"

"What?"

"The women of course!"

He said ever so proudly.

"EH?!"

Upon him saying those words, I felt anger rushing through my whole body and honestly I wanted to punch him, but I struggled to restrained myself instead.

"You get to watch and see women bathe with their splendid figures and continually savor the view! To men this is one of the greatest steps to manhood!"

Jesus Christ... Of course being perverted is still a thing even in a new world how could I have forgotten. This kind of reminds me of my classmates back at my high school who try to peep at girls in the shower after gym class, practically every guy took the chance when they saw one. If one was caught they would be subjected to be interrogated by the girls and come out black and blue, though that never stopped them. I didn't do stuff like this because in my mind there wasn't any point to doing it in the first place and after the incident when I was young I never had any thoughts of it, plus they wouldn't even let me join them anyway.

I just continued to be the boring normal guy at school and the badass I felt I was in the VR world.

Also I didn't want to be called and looked at the same way people looked at garbage and to be honest whenever I would hear one person talk about porn or about how they are going to have sex with their girlfriends just annoys me completely since they only think about the body and nothing else.

Anyway back to reality...

I looked at him with a disappointed expression and said in an annoyed tone, though it seems like he didn't notice and continued to casually talk.

"You don't need to tell me this kind of stuff."

"Oh, so you understand as well. When the time is right I shall call upon you my comrade."

That is not what I meant you pervert! Why would I want to be your comrade in terms of this?!

"By the way, What's your preference?"

"Preference?"

"Breasts, Feet, Legs, Butts... That kind of preference."

Oh... no. You are really crossing the line. My strength stat may be low, but I'm not going to regret punching your face when it comes to stuff like this. I have to relax stay calm...

"Would you really believe I would tell you that kind of stuff easily?"

"Oh, c'mon just answer."

Persistent bastard. I've never really thought about it... but I guess I'll go with the norm. Just the typical breasts, but you don't see me staring at a girl's chest the second I see one.

"Breasts."

"Big or small?"

Grr... my fist is aching...

"Can't it be both?"

"Fair enough. I should introduce you to some of my friends they'd love to meet you, and I've got an eye for a few girls out there that you might have an interest. But I believe you've already met one of them."

Who's she? Oh...

"Alice?"

"Yeah have you seen Alice's chest?! Their huge! I'd love to watch her bathe if I can."

I took a small peek, and I guess I can agree on that, her bust is monstrous! Wait! Why am I thinking of stuff like this?!

Out of the blue breaking my train of thought Alice's came through.

"What did you two talk about just now?"

"N-Nothing!"

I can't explicitly say to a girl that I was talking about that kind of stuff! Even in this world where relationships matter, I mean what kind of person would they see in me if I said that. I'll damn myself to hell before I do!

I kept my mouth shut on the topic, but of course Sam being an idiot I expected he was, has no restraint over his actions...

"Oh we were just talking about brea-"

I immediately grabbed him and covered his mouth.

"Bread! We were talking about bread!

"Oh, Ok."

Alice and Terra gave us peculiar looks as to my response. Avoiding their gazes I went back to Sam.

"Thank you comrade. I didn't know the danger I placed myself in."

Shut up. Would you? I did it so I wouldn't be labelled the same perverted trash as you! I swear one of these days this guy is going to get beat up and punched in the face before he gets to manhood.

I let go of him with an agitated look. I wanted to hit him so bad... but hitting the son of a governor and knight captain isn't something I wanted to do on my first meeting so I let him go.

"Alright everyone let's get on with the tour! We have a few more shortstops to go!"

Still lively, it annoys me, but I'll leave it for now...

He showed me a bunch of other places as well, some I'm familiar with others not. Then we stopped in front of this big structure pretty much the size of a mansion. I turned to the sign with yet more symbols I couldn't comprehend. Above it was a picture of a sword and a staff crossed with one another.

END OF UPDATE


	6. Chapter 6

UPDATE 6: The Guild

"Sam what is this place?"

"Oh this is the Adventurers Guild."

"Why did you bring me to an Adventurers Guild?"

"Well you need a job if you wanna stay here so, I thought this was the best place for you to find one."

From novels and games, an adventurer's guild was a group who hired adventurers to do requests set by the people. There are different quests from gathering herbs, investigating certain areas, escorts, and others, but most of all monster extermination. If I know anything about fantasy, is that monsters are a hassle for the people to deal with and are also a financial resource.

"This is an adventurer guild building. There's one in every city. This one is quite popular being it next to the Great Forest of Korath.

The forest had a name? Well good to know. Also this is small? This is practically the size of a mansion.

"You don't seem you have a lot of skills and your pretty good at killing plus its good business, the pay would depend on the quest you choose though."

That sums me up pretty well in this world. I mean I'm sure I can do something else, but that's going to take more time, I don't remember having any other interest besides VR gaming.

Killing things in RPG's is probably the best thing players can do especially in a world like this, however in this world I'm sure those who have other talents can use them to make a living now.

It won't really be an inconvenience for me to be an adventurer, plus probably everybody who was brought here is taking on this job since this is probably the best start for us to get out.

"Um, Thanks. Though maybe I should look a bit more presentable before I go in."

"Nah, you'll fit right in. I'll guide you through it so don't worry."

"Thanks for the help. But I think your out of time though."

"What do you-"

Upon realizing what I meant, cold sweat began falling of his head like a waterfall, his hands began to tremble and his mouth sealed shut out of fright as if someone has just poured a tub of ice cold water on him.

"What time is it?!"

"It's been an hour."

Alice said with a casual tone, but to the Sam it was as if it was his death note.

"What?! Why didn't you tell me?! Sorry Zach, seems like we'll need to do this some other time. Later!"

Sam ran full speed back in the direction we came from. Seems like his job is pretty important or maybe he doesn't like the punishment. Well anyway, guess I'll ask him to help me on this some other time.

"Alice are you an adventurer?"

"What? Me? No. I'm just a hunter in my group. I sell all kinds of things I hunt and find in the forest."

"Ah, What about you Terra what do you do?"

"Um... I don't really have a job since it increases the risk of people finding out about me, but I'm one of the chef's in our group."

"Oh, alright. Sorry to have been an inconvenience to you."

"No it's fine. We really don't have anything else to do but go to the marketplace."

"Speaking of trading, you said you can help me sell this."

I pointed towards the boar hide.

"Sure, c'mon let's go back to market and I'll show you around."

We travelled back to the marketplace to begin our trade.

They introduced me to a fair amount of people to be able to help me sell my wares once I have them. All of them were fairly nice people and selling the boar hide was relatively easy, though I only got about 12 copper pieces for it. I was also able to learn about some items that I had interest on mostly monster parts. Monster parts depending on the part can cost a fortune and essentially cost more than most items since they are used in alchemy, blacksmithing and just crafting all in all. The people Alice introduced me also told me about some leather working shops that can teach me leatherworking as well.

We were walking on the road once again after I accompanied them to the marketplace.

I was staring at the copper pieces noticing they had a cross design, probably to symbolize the origin this came from humans. I looked back at the road ahead of us and turned to Alice and Terra who were walking beside me. I probably should thank them for what they did for me today.

"Alice, Terra thanks for today."

"Your welcome, don't tell anybody about our little secret alright?"

"You can count on me."

"Okay, we'll be splitting of from here, so see you next time."

"It was nice meeting you, b-bye for now."

"You too."

We then went our separate ways for the rest of the day.

=====================================================================

I ventured to different leather working shops in order to learn some of the basics of leather working, but they all turned me down.

Their responses: "Eh? Sorry I don't think I have the time." "I've got my work cut out for me." "There's a fee though.". All of them turned me down because they either didn't have anytime, don't want anything to do with me or just wanted money in general. I could probably find somebody since I didn't really visit all of the leather working shops, but I don't think I have enough time, since I still have other places I want to check out. I'll try again tomorrow, so what should I do now? It's not sun down yet.

Absorbed in thought I did not notice a familiar person approach until his voice interrupted me.

"Zach!"

I turned in the direction where the voice came from, it was Sam.

This time he was in regular more casual clothes than his work attire.

"Oh, Sam. Why are you here? I thought you had a job to do."

"Just ended. C'mon let's go sign you up at the guild."

My eyes widened at the appearance of Sam. I noticed him to have a gauze on his face as well as a few bruises on some parts of his body.

"Wait what happened to you?! Did someone beat you up or something?"

"Ah, no just a scolding from the boss. Nothing too serious."

Punishment? Ouch... I guess I better apologize then...

"Sorry about that, didn't know you would end up like this if you left your duty."

"Nah, its fine. I know I'm going to be a knight and all, but guarding the gate is too boring, rather be patrolling the town's streets, that's where the real action is. I'm quite used to this sort of treatment."

"Alright. So you were saying?"

"Right, let's get you signed up at the guild already, I did say I'd walk you through."

"Why are you helping me this much?

"Hey, I'm a man of my word. I told you at the gate didn't I? You don't seem like a bad guy so I thought I might help you a bit."

Hm... his words sound suspicious, but there isn't any malice behind them or his expression. I guess I can trust him.

"Hm, thanks."

We went back to the Guild building so that I can apply as an adventurer.

I was thinking that since this was an adventurer guild it was going to be a filthy and disorganized since this was a place where adventurers gather, who know there could be all kinds of thugs and goons inside, but to my surprise it was the complete opposite. The interior of the lobby was well decorated and cleaned it's the kind of image you would find at a fancy hotel.

There were tons of people inside all with swords, staves, knives, cladded in armor or leather or regular cloth others hid their faces and others were proudly showing of their appearance, there were all sorts of folk in general. Same like the market everything was quite busy so no one paid any attention to us walking through the door.

"Wow..."

"I know, that was the same expression I had the first time I walked through those doors. C'mon let's go to the reception table."

I felt their Magic all over the place, I couldn't pinpoint which was which because of its abundance here. Although it feels that the people here are not releasing all of their magic, but the pressure they give of is way higher than Terra's.

Terra was able to lower hers so that I can't sense it. So it seems that the people who use magic are able to mediate their magic to lower levels the same as how Terra did. Since if too much Magic is released, even normal people will be able to detect it, so they have to be cautious. Its a pretty smart move if anyone asked me.

We walked towards the reception table, behind it was a woman giving of a charming expression. She had long chocolate brown hair in a neat flowing hairstyle, below was her charming and at the same time beautiful face with tempting eyes and an illustrious figure similar to Alice's covered up by a tidy suit.

I was a bit reluctant to ask knowing my shyness towards girls.

"Ah, she's the one tied in for first place on the list."

"First place?"

"First place out of the girls in the town for her magnificent looks and figure."

I should have known since this is Sam...

"Who's the other candidate?"

"Alice of course."

Well considering their looks and figure, it would be a tie... Wait?! Why am I thinking of this?! I turned back Sam.

He said looking as if analyzing her. I could imagine some glasses on him right now.

"Do you know her name?"

"Hm... I'm trying to remember. I'm sure I have a list right here..."

I sighed and shrugged him off and approached the reception table.

"Excuse me miss, I want to apply as an adventurer."

"Alright, please fill out this form."

She brought out a piece of paper from underneath the table.

"Will you also be applying?"

"Ah, no only him. I'm just here to help."

I grabbed a quill and was about to filled out the form in front of her.

I began to laugh in despair within my head for a few seconds upon seeing the paper.

I can't read this...

"Is there something wrong?"

"Um, no."

I can't just say that I can't fill out an application just because I don't know how to read. I would end up as a laughing stock and so that I can keep up appearances here.

"Please use the area over there, take your time filling out the information, once your finished please return here."

"Thank you."

I have to ask Sam to read this for me. I whispered to him in a low voice.

"Sam? Could you help me out here?"

"Sure. Lemme see here..."

All the information required were just like a standard application form. Name, age, area's of skill, etc. After a few minutes I then gave back the application to the receptionist. She began squinting her eyes and glancing back at me a couple of times.

"Hm..."

"Is there something wrong?"

"Ah, no. But what country are you from? I've never seen this sort of language."

Oh no, I did the same thing again. Guess I'm going to have to give her the same story I told Sam. I was about to tell her my story, but Sam stepped in for me.

"Um, do you understand it?"

"Yes to a certain extent. It's not all that different from our language, I can see many similarities, some words you're using are missing some of the grammar principles we use for our language."

I'm glad there were no problems, but do I have recite my fake biography again? Seems like their isn't any choice.

I was about to speak, but Sam intervened before I could say anything.

"He's not from around here, so he has a different sort of written language."

"I see, excuse me for questioning it."

Wait she bought that excuse?! I guess I'll accept it for now. She then continued to look through some more papers.

"Sam why did she buy that excuse?"

"Well, not every adventurer out there is human so they would understand if you can't read or write in our language and not every adventurer has gone through proper education, after all its more of what a person can do physically than mentally."

I scanned the lobby again. There was a short miget like person with a beard, a dwarf. A woman with a beautiful appearance, but with long ears at her side, an Elf, and even a man with animal like ears and a tail resembling a dog, probably a beast man.

Ah, so it isn't only humans here there are other races as well, that would make Sam's statement totally logical then. Though I don't think I'm going to get to know a lot of them, after all I am a solo player rather and a team player.

The receptionist then brought out another paper and pointed to the line on the bottom.

"Now please sign here."

Ugh...More words I can't understand.

"Um, what is this?"

"Oh it's a contract just so that you know what you're getting yourself into. Details include possible death and that the guild is not responsible for it, also if you do anything that will affect the guild's image there will be consequences. Would you like me to continue?"

"No, it's okay. I understand. Could I please get a copy of this."

"Sure."

"Thank you."

She gave me a copy of the contract I just signed.

"Please wait here, while we prepare your Guild card."

Alright, I can ask Sam sometime to translate this for me to fully understand this contract and could be useful sometime in the future, though I doubt I'll need it. I took a closer look at the contract. My eyes widened with amazement as I scanned through it. They were not actually symbols... I can see letters from the alphabet just in a different font, though arranged in a different order. I can't make it out, however if I have to make a guess...

"There something wrong?"

"No, but what's the main human language called?"

"Latium."

Latium… that's one of the other two names of latin. So my suspicions were correct, that can't be just a coincidence. I once looked up the meaning of the game's name Infinitus, it was latin for Infinity. And the words I'm seeing here are close to the other words I saw were closely related. Latin is the mother of human language so it fits, that makes it a bit easier, though I don't think it going to be the same for the other races.

"It seems our languages do have similarities, a lot of them."

"Oh really? Well that's good. Also how are you speaking our language if you don't understand our language?"

That's...a good point. I didn't see Latin under language comprehension. So how am I understanding them?

"I don't really know myself."

"What? You better not be fooling around. I have full authority to arrest anyone I find suspicious."

"I'm not! I swear I don't know!"

"Ha! Relax, that was a joke!"

He patted me on the back with his usually carefree smile. Dammit, this guy really does like to fool around.

"You don't have to act defensive otherwise, people will find it strange. I gotta say though you're a weird one."

I sighed and gave a defeated smile.

"I guess..."

Then I heard a voice from around the lobby...

"Hey, is that... Arrol's son?"

"C'mon your eyes must be fooling with you?"

"No, wait that really is him. The Governor's son."

With that more and more eyes were pointed towards us.

Are they talking about Sam? I looked back at him. He had an anxious expression as if a bucket of ice was just poured over him, and that expression said he wanted to get out of here as quickly as possible. Why is he being like this?

"You seem to be quite popular around here. Did you do something wrong?"

"What? No. It's because of my father."

"Your father?"

"Remember when I told you I was training as a knight under him? He's an Imperial Knight Captain of the Holy Griffin Empire. When he was in action rumours claim that he was one of the best knights on the battlefield, so he's quite known around here amongst adventurers."

Upon hearing him the only words that immediately appeared were: What?! That sounds really cool!

"That sounds amazing! Wait, should you be telling me this? This is personal information we're talking about here, family related information?"

"Its no problem, it's no secret, practically everyone knows how to match my face with his status in the city."

"Oh, ok then."

He then presented a glum look after a couple of seconds.

"Did I say something wrong?"

"No, it's what you said a second ago. Amazing, that's what everyone says when I tell them, but as his son I gotta uphold his name. What's more is that he's never lost a fight yet ever since so if anyone here challenges me I can't refuse."

So that's the pressure you're under, I guess I can't understand since I lost my parents early on. I was about to say something, but he rose up with a proud and triumphant expression.

"But that doesn't mean I'm going to run if I had the chance! I asked to be trained as a knight under him and it would stain his pride if the son who willingly wanted to be taught as a knight by his father would run. I'm not going down without a fight if it was for my father or anyone else I cared about."

I was equally amazed and stunned by the noble words he had just said. I may have to reevaluate how I see him, I guess he's not so much of that perverted happy go lucky person I saw a while ago. He can be serious and has desires and dreams he wants to fulfill even if it costed his life, as of now my respect for him rose by a substantial amount. But...

"Also for women."

Sam said ever so proudly, I can even see a small glint in his eyes.

Nevermind it just dropped...

I placed my palm over my face and sighed to show my foolishness. After a few seconds I smiled and took it off.

Well... perverted, but at the very least respectable.

The receptionist then came back with a small rectangular object in her hand.

"Sir, here is your guild card."

I took it from her and gave it a good long look. The card had the same design as the tapestry outside of the building, it stated only the most basic details, 5 to be exact. My name, age, race, gender and rank. My eyes paid most attention to the rank which was Copper F Rank.

"Excuse me, can you tell me more about the ranking system?"

"Ah, there are Ten ranks, Copper, Iron, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Mythril, Orichalum, Crystal and Adamantite. Lowest being Copper and Highest being Adamantite. The letter ranks are spread out from letters S to F. S being the highest, F being the lowest, this was made for classification between adventurers. But until you reach Orichalum the highest will be A, also your lowest letter rank is currently F until you can reach Bronze."

"To be able to earn ranks, one must complete a series of tests made by the guild to be able to qualify for a rank, however there are cases where an adventurer attains a major feat and can skip through ranks. Also with ranking you can only do quests that are within your ranking. The Guild card will be used as the record for your quests and as your identification when you go to guilds as well as entering new cities or areas, please do not lose it."

"I see..."

Whoa, I sure hope I don't lose this, also... there is no way a card like this can't be handed out just like this.

"Wait shouldn't there be some kind of fee for this?"

"Ah, no need the first one is free, but you would need to pay if you request for a new one."

Thank goodness, I'm basically broke right now. Now that that's out of the way...

"One last thing, as a security measure the card is enchanted. We will need a drop of your blood to complete the process. Once the card comes into contact of your blood it can only be activated by you.."

What kind of security system is that? Though that does sound like a very efficient security system and quite convenient too. Alright I might as well do it...

"Alright, but do you have anything so I can cut myself?"

"I brought this to help."

She had a small razor in her hand and offered it to me.

I hesitantly took it from her and made a small cut on my finger just enough for it to bleed. A drop finally fell and landed on the card. The card glowed for a few seconds then came back to their original state.

"Alright and that ends the process."

"Oh, okay then. We should probably be going now."

"What? We just got here what are you-"

I figured that Sam didn't want to be in there as much as he already was so I thought that it would be best to leave things as are and continue tomorrow.

"No, I've got other things to do anyway so this is all I can do. Thank you for your service...um..."

I forgot to ask her name! How embarrassing… my eyes squabble around looking for anything that looked like a name tag or an id of some sort.

She giggled at my embarrassed expression before solving my worries.

"Stella, my name is Stella."

"S-Stella, Thank you."

"Your welcome, if you have any questions ask me anytime you want."

I looked back at her and she gave me one last charming smile as we walked out the door, I turned the other way with my cheeks red.

"Hey, You're blushing. You know I can-"

I knew he was about to say something stupid again so I stopped him before he said it.

"Of course not, please shut up."

"Hahaha! Well you're still a growing kid after all."

"I'm sorry, but how old are you? I'm 18, don't call me a kid."

"Oh? Is that so? Well that doesn't matter you're still a kid to me. I'm 20 by the way."

20? He's just slightly older than me and he regards me as a kid...Sigh, there really isn't any point arguing about something so pointless.

I then felt his hand press on my shoulder with a grateful expression.

"By the way thanks for what you did for me back there. Leaving early that is."

"Yeah, no problem. It's the least I can do for you as thanks."

"Hey if you ever need help getting to know the city, I'm your man."

"Sure, I'll take you up on that offer. Though don't expect me to come to you a lot, I don't like to depend on others to solve my problems too often."

"I understand. Just ask if you need my help in particular."

You're help in particular huh? I don't think… wait, no there is one thing….

"Actually can you tell me a person who can teach me blacksmithing and leatherworking for me, one that is willing to teach someone like me?"

"Your an interesting one, why do you want to learn those? You are technically already an adventurer."

"I have my reasons. Do you know of anyone?"

"Hm, I think I know just the person. Not sure if he'll be willing, but he's the first one I'd go to if I were you. I'll help you meet him when I get the chance."

"Better not be when you're slacking off again."

"Hey, if not the 97th time maybe the 98th."

We continued to talk and walk through the town until we stopped at an inn that Sam recommended me on the way. We said our goodbyes to each other and departed for the night.

"Well, see ya next time Zach."

"Yeah, you too Sam."

I proceeded to my room after checking in at the lobby. I climbed up the stairs to the second floor to my room. I opened the door with the key the man at the lobby gave me and took a good look at the room. It was a simple room, a bed a closet and a table, the quality wasn't as bad from what you'd expect of a cheap in and surprisingly a night only costs 5 copper coins so that's convenient, but I'm only staying here for the night, then tomorrow I'm heading out to the forest to set out camp and grind and train to a sufficient level and doing some quests while I'm at it.

I plopped on the bed sinking my face deep within the mattress reflecting on what has transpired on my first day in this world.

So many things happened today... it's only my first too. I've going to have to adapt to this new world. The world that I knew and loved this isn't a game anymore, all of it is real. From the mobs to the people they all reflect what the real world has to offer, but even if this world does follow the rules of the real world, it sure as hell isn't as boring as the world I once came from.

Maybe I'm too composed about this situation, what about everyone else who was brought to this world what do they think? I hope they're fine...

Other than that I feel like I got lucky today. I mean I'm kind of glad I met the NPC's I met just a few hours ago... No, not NPC's they are actual people. Even if they were created by the system they are actual people with feelings, personalities, dreams, desires and all the characteristics a normal person would have back in the old world. The question however is... just how did [Arthur] do it? There are probably millions and billions of people on this world and if each is their own person then how did [Arthur] make them all?

Nevermind that for now... I'm going to need to learn some things so that I can get acquainted with this world. I learned so many new things, but all that led to was more questions. Maybe I can ask the voice when I get to meet her again...

My eyes slowly closed and before I knew it I was already asleep.

With that, my first day in this world ended.

END OF UPDATE


	7. Chapter 7

UPDATE 7: Just another day on the job

It was pitch black, I couldn't see anything, where am I?

My left hand began to glow outlining the lines of the sigil.

Seriously… What is this?

A familiar voice sounded the darkness.

"We meet again Zach"

It was the same voice from when I first came here. I didn't notice before that this voice was actually feminine.

"H-how do you know me?"

"I've known you for a very long time Zach. I know what you've been through, your struggles in school and various experiences within the world of Infinitus since the loss of your parents 8 years ago on October 16th 2062."

That is the date my parents died, she also claims she knows me and has been watching me since I was ten? This is proving to be more creepy than informative if that is what she intends it to be.

"I knew that you of all people could not bear not playing the game's new update and to think you were accepted among the millions to be here, I see my intuition was the correct. I have been waiting for this moment to talk to you."

"Then, please tell me your na-." I was about to ask her name again, but...

"I'm afraid now is not the time yet for you to know my name"

"You may ask any other question in the time being"

She can't say her name? I guess I'll ask about what she said to me when I first came here.

"During our first meeting, you told me that "I will choose the fate of this world", what did you mean by those words?"

She paused only to give me an annoying answer a few seconds later.

"What indeed, Zach"

I felt this person was making fun of me at the moment, I felt my face slowly warm up.

"Wait! You didn't answer me!" I responded.

"Fu..Fu..Fu..Fu.." She giggled at my slightly blushed face.

"It looks like our time here is up."

"I'll meet you again soon"

"Your journey in this world, has only just begun" A flash of light then lit the empty space, before I knew it was morning. I slowly opened my eyes...

The sun's gaze slowly lit my face signaling me it's morning.

"Hm...? Morning huh?"

I slowly got up from my bed. My mouth formed a gaping yawn as I stretched my arms.

Oh right, I have a job now. One that I can actually enjoy than just being a guy behind a register. Adventurer, huh? It's a dangerous job, but it fits me perfectly.

I grabbed my essentials and walked out the door.

It's been a week since I came to this new world. I've been gathering as much info as I can from the people around me and from the guild, monsters, people, places anything that'll help my stay in this world. Still no one willing to teach me how to craft though, but that'll come later. I also leveled up to Level 4 and improving myself from hunting the local wildlife. I've also been earning a substantial living thanks to the guild, but more on that later. In short I've been making good progress the past couple of days.

Paying attention to my surroundings, it wasn't only me who was awake, mostly everyone was, merchants stocking up for the day to sell on the marketplace, villagers doing their daily chores around their houses and soldiers patrolling the streets.

Some of them greeted me as I made my way to the guild, their expressions of warmth and the effort they put into their work. I could feel the early morning breeze flowing through the streets. I then gave a light scroll across my arm to where my injuries are reminiscing the past few days.

I then turned my head towards the sky. To think that a world that used to be a fictional game could be turned into this...

I arrived at the adventurer's guild after some time of walking. When I stepped inside it was almost the same as the outside, adventurer's were everywhere. Most of them were just lounging on the guilds furniture discussing matters others were on the front desk and some were on the guild's quest board looking for a quest to do.

Even in the morning it's already so busy... I was hoping there would be less, but I guess if there were too few people it would make me stand out considering my clothing and new equipment.

The new equipment I got was a new sword, not a metal one obviously. It was made of flint, I crafted it four days ago on my first day. It had the outer lining of a sword, but it had chips everywhere which detriments its attack power. It doesn't look or damage as good as a metal sword, but all the mattered was that it could cut.

It hung behind me in my makeshift holder. At my waist was a grass rope with several pouches made of the same material hanging from them as well as a backpack.

These are even worse than the standard equipment of the starters I've seen the past couple of days and some of them even make fun of me because of them. It's not like I care. They're not much, but they're the most practical things I could get my hands on with my current financial crisis.

"Hey, who the hell is this?"

"What kind of equipment is that? It's even worse than ours"

"He won't last a second out there."

They're jeering at me, everyday starts out like this… No matter.

I went straight to the front desk and unknowingly the same charming smile from a familiar woman came to greet me.

"Good morning Zach. What can I do for you?"

"Ah, Stella. Good morning, the same type, any please."

"Of course."

She then brought out a thick book onto the table and opened it up. Since I still can't understand the language she helps me translate the quests and information I receive.

"Here it is 4 gathering quests all in the safe zone."

To adventurers, quests are similar to missions. The guild assigns quests by their difficulty and is only given if the adventurer taking it is in concordance to the rank decided by the guild or is met by the person/s giving the quest to the guild. There are all sorts of quests, from typical escorts to the most popular monster slaying. Though, those two types of quests I mentioned are by the guilds and my standards are still not in my freedom to take.

Once she translated the, I wrote them down on a separate piece of paper.

Let's see… for herbs, Sun Lilies, Red Moss, and Purple Glossy Flowers, for animals Slash Rabbits.

Some of the standard wildlife in the Forest's "Safe" zone. I would take four so I could maximize my time every journey I make to the forest and at the end of the day have a nice payday to look at.

"Please present your guild card."

I took it out from my pocket and laid it on the table. Stella took it along with the 5 quests I took scribbling them down as all the details from the quests copied themselves and flew into my guild card.

"Thanks."

I took the guild card back and stared at it for a few seconds focusing on my rank.

Copper E Rank. I was able to rank up by showing my prowess to hunt monsters in the forests, it seems as though it's the lowest requirement needed to rank up for letter ranks. Though as it gets higher it's a bit tougher to show your worth.

I turned beside me, a group of people with way better equipment than me take their quest. I didn't understand what it was, but the rank for the quest should have been gold.

I sighed as I watched them walk of.

"What's wrong? You always keep giving off the same face every time I see you look at adventurers of higher rank."

"Ah, no it's just… It's going to be a long way before I get to their level."

"That's true, but you shouldn't rush it, in this kind of work you never know when you can die on a quest."

She's right, this is a dangerous job where you can die at any time. Its frustrating for me being a newbie like me who was an old pro, to see others much higher than myself and realize the effort it would take to get back up.

I paused for a few seconds and looked back at them as they sat in their booth discussing something.

I smiled. But, that's what makes the journey even more satisfying. I'll get back up there, someday.

"Zach?"

"What? Oh, yes sorry. I was a bit lost back there."

"No, it's not a problem. Only those with true ambition are able to smile like that after feeling frustration from watching those much higher than him. I don't see that a lot from some of our younger ones, but seeing that in you it makes me glad I'm working with you."

I was a bit surprised with what she said. I felt my face grew a slight heat on her compliment. I don't think she understands my frustration, but it feels nice to be complemented by a woman like her. She giggled in response to my reaction.

"I noticed your shirt is fixed and most of the blood stains are gone."

"Oh, I had a local tailor repair it for me, I tried washing the blood of, but not a lot of the first blood stains I received washed off."

"Speaking of which, I remember when you walked in here for the first time and saw it, I haven't had the chance to ask since you always storm off so quickly, whose blood was it? It wasn't yours I hope."

"It wasn't mine. I had a little trouble with a boar coming through the city when I stumbled across the forest."

"Did you fight it with that sword on your back?"

"I had a much smaller version at the time."

I reached into my pocket and grabbed my flint knife and showed it to her.

"You killed it with this?! Can I see that?"

"Um, sure."

I handed it to her. She then examined it for a few seconds while flipping it over and touching the edge of the knife.

"You killed a boar with such a primitive weapon, you must be really experienced then. I always wondered how you managed to do your quests with barely anything, seeing it now I understand you're a step above most of our newer ones. Though I advise you to get a better weapon once you start going into the deeper areas of the forest."

She handed back to me. I took it and placed it back inside my pocket.

"Thanks, and I know. I just need enough money for it."

"I'm sure you'll earn it soon enough."

"Anyway, even though I get most of the stains and the smell of my clothes, I in particular am not. I should probably visit the bath house later and maybe start looking for new clothes. I don't think people would think pleasantly of me if I walk around the city in this state."

"Really? I find it very... arousing."

"What?"

Her face began to blush and was lost on what to do next.

"You should probably get going! Um, I'll see you later once you're finished."

"Um, Ok I'll be back later."

I said and quickly exited the guild and headed straight for the gate.

I stepped out of the guild and walked back to the gate I came in from yesterday. When I reached the gate I saw a bit of familiar faces from yesterday. They just greeted me with well, not really welcoming, but not like yesterday when I first met them at least. Sam wasn't in sight though. maybe he's doing something else.

One of the soldiers spoke to me.

"Oh, Zach. Going out again today?"

Oh, he's one of the soldiers who work with Sam on this shift.

After that time Sam slacked off, he was forced to tell the whole story to his superiors. Luckily it wasn't paid any mind and mostly the only people who know how to match my name with my face were the ones working at that time.

"Yeah. Aren't you guys going to run me through an inspection?"

Obviously this was a security measure I was told by Sam, but it seems that they just ignore me when it comes down to it.

"Well we should as part of protocol, but though Sam doesn't look it he's pretty good at what he does, both at mind and body. And if he says you're good to go then you're good to go, I don't know about the one's working later."

Wow, I knew getting to go a guy like Sam as a valuable contact in this city was good, though I didn't think it would be this good. I keep underestimating that guy.

"Other than that, you don't seem to be carrying much do you?"

"I feel offended. I'm not that poor you know."

They laughed merrily at my statement. Though seriously, it's unusual he's not here, he usually takes the morning shift so that he can be done with work and do something else maybe his co-workers have an idea.

"By the way, where's Sam? He should be here at this time with guys right?"

"He's training with the chief so he'll be working at a later shift today.."

Training? He is a knight in training after all. I'm actually curious about that, he's probably at the barracks then with his Father, I should stop by when I get the chance.

"Well, anyway. Tell him I said hi."

"Will do. Don't get yourself killed out there."

I won't. Not in this world.

"Excuse me?"

"Oh, nothing."

I began to scroll through the forest in search of my targets. Korath as a region in size was enormous and is said to have the size of four regions The Great Forest covered nearly 70% of it leaving the last thirty percent to the villages and Nara City just close by it.

To clarify, the zone that the guild calls the safe zone, isn't really what a normal person would call safe. It's safe enough for anyone who has had a their fair share of training and combat experience. Ever since I hit level 30 back in the game, I had already forgotten most of the monsters that would appear if i was just starting out. In the past four days of my job, I inclined to realign myself with the local wildlife of the so called "Safe Zone".

I asked the guild for a list of animals and wildlife that inhabited the forest in the safe zone, though that was not possible for the guild to do unless I bought the book. In the end I only got a list of creatures I should be wary of as a new adventurer. Dire wolves, Long Tusked Boars, Slimes, Needle hogs and all sorts of monsters in the forest. So far some of the monsters seem identical to my memory of low level monsters, but there are some new ones too. I should probably avoid direct confrontations with the ones I don't know.

I thread through the forest lightly as I take full notice of my surroundings. I found one of the animals on my target list.

In front of me was a Slash Rabbit. It looked like your average everyday rabbit, though it had unusually long claws. Though those claws are meant for the purpose of digging and foraging, they can also be used for self-defense if threatened. I've encountered these monsters on the past runs in the forest, incredible hearing and eyesight along with strong legs keep it away from most predators, but not afraid to fight either.

I was hiding out of it sight to avoid detection. The problem with these rabbits are their speed, I would prefer a surprise attack, but there is no way it won't hear me as I sneak up on it. Direct confrontation is inevitable in this situation...

I took a deep breath and stepped out of my cover. As soon as my feet walked on the grass the rabbit turned towards me with its claws out signalling its not afraid to fight.

I took my flint sword out and positioned my stance. We kept our eyes focused on each other as I moved slowly circling around it.

"Skreeee!"

It screeches at me as I come closer.

Once I finally got close enough. It lunged towards me in a burst of speed with its strong hind legs in an attempt the slash me at my neck.

I swerved my upper body to the left and dodged its attack just at the nick of time. Once it landed it turned around with its claws out and kicked off the ground again to issue a slash this time it was readjusted aiming for my abdomen.

But at that moment the edge of my sword had stepped in its way and slashed it. It was like a fly being swatted with a fly swatter. It wasn't a clean cut either, it didn't create too much damage on the creature, but crimson had already began to dye its light grey fur

Since this was made of Flint and not Iron or Steel that unique slicing action I would often see in old medieval movies wasn't present and probably did less damage.

It immediately got back up and darted to a different position to strike me. Its strategy is to make a series of quick attacks aiming for different areas to confuse its opponent. If it were to miss it would find another position in an attempt to stay in its opponent's blind spot. Its speed is a problem, but my dynamic vision hasn't changed so I'm able to keep up with it.

I continued to swat it down everytime it pounced towards me keeping my distance away from its claws.

I slashed the bunny back one last time.

In its effort to get back up from its shock it frantically moved its legs about, my opportunity appeared in front of me and before long my blade had already wedged itself in its flesh. Its fur began to be dyed in red.

[23 EXP]

No stats this time….. In this world stats can be earned naturally without spending attribute points, but it doesn't come all the time. There are certain unseen walls that block progression of stats unless I put in the work for it. In the past 5 days I haven't been earning a lot, mostly because I figure out a strategy. I guess I'm going to need to workout if I really want them to increase quickly

I took my flint sword out from the rabbit's lifeless corpse and begin harvesting its pelt as apart of my quest. After a few minutes I held its pelt in my hands, it was intact. Since the last few days I've been learning the best way not to damage the condition of the materials I gather and putting them into practical use. I'm satisfied to see they haven't gone to waste.

[Skinning: LvL 3 LvL 4]

I noticed the way skills level up is only when I realize a new way of doing it or improving myself and putting it into practical use. Once I've gotten a hang of it the skill levels up. This isn't a game anymore after all, it's not dependent on level it's dependent on the player's skill to improve themselves.

I looked back at the rabbit's corpse on the ground as I placed the fur in my backpack and placed my sword back in its scabbard

Alright, only 9 more left.

About what felt like two hours later I carried 10 pelts in my backpack along with a few other parts of animals I came across. On the way I also found the 2 other herbs on my list. I trailed through the forest searching for the last item on my list while munching on some bread I packed for lunch.

God that was boring… Their movements felt so predictable, there no fun in that. I shouldn't get ahead of myself though, I should just be glad I don't have much injuries from them after all that. I should find that flower and call it a day.

I found the Purple Glossy Flower it was already noon, though something unexpected came my way.

I continued to search for my final quest item.

I found a small clearing in the forest. At its center was a small patch of purple.

Yes! I found it. Now let's start collecting and head back.

I came to the center of the clearing and began gathering the flowers after I had enough I stopped and a window appeared.

Flower Picking LVL1 LVL2

Oh that skill leveled up too.

Alright everything is done. Not so bad for a first day, not too much trouble either...?

I then heard a sound coming from behind me in the bushes. What emerged was a small green halfling like creature walking on two legs with an elongated nose, jagged teeth, pointed ears with beady eyes staring right at me wearing a piece of cloth to cover its bottom wielding what looks like a bone knife.

What the heck? Are you perhaps a Goblin?

It then snarled at me to intimidate me.

"GRAAH!"

Yup! That's a Goblin.. A window appeared.

Race Demi-Human

Type Goblin

There are two classifications for mobs in Infinitus, one are beasts, basically enemies with more animal characteristics, and second are monsters, pure abnormalities as an NPC scholar once described them. They are called so depending on their appearance, nature, and abilities.

Goblins are one of the many types of monsters that can be found in Infinitus. Treated as a low rank creatures they were easily slaughtered by prepared players for income. They were known for raiding villages and would pose a threat to settlements with low man power. They have no care for things like money or material objects of the sort all they care about is the survival of their species and would multiply quickly if left alone, this was according to the game's lore.

I placed my sword up and readied my defense.

It snarled again before it came running at me with its knife in the air.

"GRAAHH!"

I was hoping for it to be a challenge and I already see an opening at the start. I know I remember saying that everything has some sort of intelligence now and I couldn't compare before since it was an animal. Now that I'm seeing a monster just charge with its weapon in the air exposing its chest, its just like the regular low level monsters I've been fighting, weak and predictable.

Well maybe I can still find some use for him, as a test dummy. Seeing that its weapon was too short to parry as well as the number of openings it reveals to me it was easier for me to go aggressive. After I crafted my flint sword I made it a point to re-learn some of the basic straight sword techniques I used before.

I narrowed my sights on the Goblin. I spread my legs apart and held my sword at my side to form my battle stance.

When the Goblin was close enough I issued one of the classic sword techniques, Cross Slash.

Two slashes then sliced through the goblin's skin in an X formation. The goblin noticed it was hit and immediately hopped back. As it attempted to make distance my legs moved reflexively and dashed to its position, holding my sword back in a straight position and stretched forward performing another classic technique, Lunge.

The Goblin was thrown even farther and was knocked off its feet.

I could have easily killed it right then and there, but I figured that since this is the first opponent that's big enough to test my skills on I figured I'd let it live to see how much damage I could make without holding back.

I looked back at the green midget and there was a cut on the right side of its chest, though it wasn't deep, but it was bleeding and that was all that matters.

The Goblin placed its hand on its bleeding chest with a surprised look as to the sight of its own blood, it then looked back at me while grinding its teeth in anger whilst gripping its knife.

"GRAAHH!"

It snarled again at me in anger as it ran at me for another attack.

The Goblin cut down the distance in a matter of seconds. This Goblin doesn't seem like its experienced fighting before, its agility may be higher than mine, but if it's a contest of skill, I am at an advantage.

I continued to cut down the Goblin as more and more wounds on its body degrade its strength and speed.

From my observation, I've already deduced that this Goblin isn't experienced. Its regular attack interval to make a swing is way too long. It would make a few fast cuts to try and catch me off guard, just not at the right time. During that time it takes to make a strike, I would make one or two cuts on a blind spot.

It would hop back in an attempt to reassess itself, however before it even could, the distance was shortened by my quick lunge.

The battle was short lived and after 10 minutes of fighting the Goblin's body was covered in wounds. Since I was at a complete advantage, I made every strike as hard as I could to compensate for my sword's material.

There was blood coming out from each of the wounds I had made, it had started to take heavy breaths from exhaustion and probably the blood loss.

I guess this is the end, but I can't be too cautious...

I slowly walked towards the Goblin with my sword ready and my stance locked

Its eyes menacingly watch me as I came closer to it. I thought that this mob was as simple as it should be when this used to be a game, but what happened next turned to be much more complicated than I imagined.

"GRAAAAAAH!"

The Goblin Shrieked like a war cry before finally making one last charge towards me. It then jumped towards me with its knife in its hand attempting to make a thrust, but it was a fatal mistake as it's chest was wide open. I thrust my sword in its chest, before it could place its knife forward.

It didn't go all the way through on the initial strike like I expected, only a few inches of the sword's tip had sunk into its flesh and was probably stopped by the Goblin's flesh. Though the sword hadn't gone all the way through it was still enough to stop the Goblin from moving, the light in its eyes soon faded away as it fell to the ground lifeless.

[+30 EXP]

[+2 DEX]

I then approached its bloody body inspecting it.

There's no doubt about it, its dead. Maybe if it had just been a bit more experienced it could have put up more of fight.

Well, it can't do anything about it now. I took my flint knife out for harvesting.

There are a lot of parts I can get from this Goblin, however I only need to collect their ears as means of proof for killing them. I doubt many people would opt to buying other organs though probably having more value than ears, collecting more than what is necessary may not be suitable for the moment.

It's not part of my job for the day, the Guild will give me a 10% increase on their regular market price along with paying me for subjugating them anyway. Seems like today is going to be a bigger payday than usual.

I look back at its dead corpse and felt slight pity for the now dead midget.

"*sigh* I don't like corpse robbing, but I need to do this."

Before I could even begin harvesting. In the next second 4 more figures appeared on the other side of the clearing. I looked closely, they were Goblins, all in their own hideous forms.

[END OF UPDATE]


	8. Chapter 8

UPDATE 8: Mobs

Anyone prepared can defeat a Goblin, but in packs or in hordes they are quite a force to be reckoned with.

Are you kidding me?! More Goblins? How did they...?

I turned back to the Goblin beneath me.

So it was you... Calling in the cavalry huh? Goblins are not as dumb as I thought, I guess I have to reevaluate my opinion about these mobs. Though it should have done it a lot earlier if it knew it couldn't win.

My sights focused on the newcomers.

4 Goblins, one with a bone axe, another one with a club and one with a spear. Though that wasn't the one I was focusing on, I was focusing on the Goblin in the middle.

It was much taller than the other, not exactly as tall as an adult human, but from the way it looked its height would measure up till the foot of my neck. It wore a helmet and a leather shoulder guard at the same time wielding a metal broadsword.

The one wearing the better equipment must be the Goblin Platoon leader.

Goblin Platoon Leader. Not any different from a regular Goblin in terms of appearance, but carries more or better equipment than its party members. Other than aesthetic features their stats are pretty much mediocre as well, that is when they are alone. In a group they used to buff up their party members with extra attack and speed. Though in this world that isn't so, I read that they are able to come up with strategies in battle. Basically they are supposed to be smarter than other Goblins.

"Now I'm interested. Lets test them out…" I said smiling

The Platoon leader scanned the area before his eyes finally came into contact with mine then looked down at his fallen party member. Its eyes glared and bared its jagged teeth in anger. It pointed at me and started giving commands to his fellow hunting party.

"GRAH GRARC RACG!"

The Goblins seemingly understood and began advancing towards my position while he stayed in the sidelines.

Guess I'll have to fight my way out of this. I was in a horrible situation, yet I could feel my lips forming a smile.

I gripped my sword at my side and initiated my attack. The one with the club got to me first and attacked by forming a downwards strike leaving its body open.

I want to end each opponent quickly so that I can go for the leader.

I quickly lunged forward and thrusted my sword aimed at its neck. My Flint sword reached and pierced its neck, blood slowly flowed from the opening and halted its movements and fell to the ground while trying to stop the blood flow.

Just behind him was the Goblin with the spear, I wasn't able to react fast enough and was hit on the shoulder.

"Tch!"

I then attempted to slash, but the Goblin had already backed away before it had reached.

The sound of running footsteps could be heard right behind me. I immediately looked back and it was the Goblin with the bone axe in the middle of its pounce. I made a reflexive roll beneath him dodging his axe swing.

I hastily got up to land a hit on the Goblin, but as soon as the Goblin landed it hopped back to create distance escaping the range of my sword.

"GRAAHH!"

From behind?! The one with the spear then charged at me again. I side stepped to the left, but the spear's thrust approached faster and cut my shoulder.

"Ouch!"

I made some distance and watched their positions. I turned back to the leader and he just continued to watch.

"GRORCA!"

The Goblin with the spear charged me and greedily aimed for my head. I avoided it and landed a slash on its chest and immediately hopped back after.

They attack fast consisting of only a few seconds to make an attack, there really isn't a change in speed or strength. What's peculiar though is that they keep attacking me when my back is faced towards them or when my attention is on another and would back away. In other words kiting...

Kiting, the strategy of hit and run. To be honest this strategy is no doubt effective against the right opponent or if an opponent is too strong to be taken down with one encounter. Simple and effective.

Interesting, so this does shows they do have an intelligence.

Other than that, they're not using their usual strategy by swarming in numbers, meaning that there's no one else but them here.

Strategic, but careless...

I made my ready stance again. The two Goblins began circling me, I kept my attention on both of them.

Suddenly the one with the axe advanced first. I turned towards it and blocked its strike, when I started hearing footsteps closing in on me I kicked the Goblin in front of me making it stagger and quickly sidestepped to avoid the other Goblins spear thrust. I turned around hastily to issue a slash aimed at its shin making it fall on one leg. It tried to regain balance, but my blade met its neck spraying blood over forest floor.

The Goblin behind me ran in my direction thinking I wasn't paying attention to it. I made a slight glance and it was attempting to make a horizontal swing with its axe.I dodged it and ran my sword through its stomach region, this time more of the sword got through. I pulled it out and made a swing in the air to take of the blood as the Goblin fell to its knees and perished. Windows started appearing

[+ 64 EXP ]  
[+1 DEX +2 AGI]

Hm… not enough for me to get to level 5 yet I suppose, but I got a hefty number of stats from this which is good.

Back to the battle. The disadvantage of the Goblins was their weaponry, not in their design, but in the way they were used. Comparing it to the first Goblin I fought there is a gap in fighting experience and methodological, they only used simple and predictable attacks that could easily be dodged or avoided.

I was impressed that they knew about kiting, but they were using it wrong, the key to kiting is the unpredictability of where each person is going to attack, but when you have all the pieces it's easy to predict.

Surely they had more experience using their weapons than the first, although when compared to me that is nothing. I may not have the skills listed to prove it, but I have four years of experience to show.

I then turned to the leader already ready with its broad sword at its side. Its expression seems to have changed. Rather it was even angrier at me for decimating its party. It snarled at me in anger before finally running towards me with its sword.

I took my Flint sword and parried. I could see a chip of my sword fall of the blade. I knew it, this sword isn't going to last if it goes against metal, better make this quick. The Goblin didn't show exceptional experience in wielding the sword though I can tell that he was a cut above the rest, probably the reason he was made the leader.

I sidestepped to my right made a diagonal swing aimed at its shoulder. A deep cut was made and blood erupted from the wound. It then retaliated with a quick thrust to my chest. I didn't expect it to recover so quickly and failed to dodge on time.

Crap!

My body made a quick sidestep, but not before the blade's tip ripped through side.

"Tch!"

I immediately pounced backwards to make distance between us. In that moment I lost about 6 of my HP. I placed my hand over my wound resulting in a stinging pain.

This one. It's better than the others.

Through the pain all I could do was smile. I was excited rather than afraid, the same feeling I had when I started playing VR. Its this sort of thrill that made me love it, or maybe it's only me.

Other than that I can't underestimate this one, or I could lose my life. The Leader snarled at me with a smile from the recent wound.

It then chased after me to continue its attack.

I continued to parry and avoid every slash it made. I tried to avoid parrying since the durability of my flint sword would deteriorate in a matter of seconds if I pushed it. I would try my best to strike at any openings I would find and get a few lucky hits, the Leader did the same. Though I said that I have four years of skill to match my lack of attributes, it doesn't change the fact that I don't have any of it. I can't dodge as fast, hit as hard, or take as much as I used to. I had to adapt to the current situation accordingly to my limits.

After a while I had about 33 HP left. My torso was covered in cuts from the metal broadsword. Not too bad compared to my stamina, which has been cut over the halfway point. Though I was only was hit a couple of times, I shouldn't underestimate the strength of the Goblin coupled with the sword. I can feel the pain of my wounds slowly taking its toll on my endurance to fight on, however I would say I was in a better shape than my enemy, his body was covered in cuts and slashes, though not anywhere fatal yet, but the Goblin was struggling to keep its broadsword up.

We were circling around the clearing waiting for one of us to make an opening. Though in that time I had already begin analyzing and forming my strategy...

In our battle I had already measured and recorded its style of fighting. I had already taken note that Goblins are fast, though when it comes to strength it is not able to match a fully grown human, it may match a teenager or a man in his late teens. There attack speed doesn't fall behind their agility either, I've been measuring about 2-4 second attack intervals and 1.4 second slashes.

I know what matters more is the timing of the attack, but my measurements work to estimate how fast an attack can be so I can be ready to avoid it. Of course this method isn't as accurate since the timing of the attacks could change through the course of the battle, but it still helps to have some sort of estimation.

The Goblin's fighting style is a simple thrust and slash kind. It doesn't use any techniques or complicated moves or strategies, though it was able to make a strategy with its fellow party, by itself he's just like a regular Goblin swinging its weapon aimlessly.

I then took off my armor to lessen the weight on my body and gripped my sword ready for any attack. The Goblin's beady eyes watched me with anger and disgust then suddenly rushed forward towards me to take advantage of my loss of composure. As I expected, it just attacks, though I can tell this isn't out of instinct, it's hatred. I rushed forward towards it as well.

Our swords met and were locked. I made a kick towards the Goblins stomach region breaking our sword lock. I made a strong horizontal strike slash its weapon. The sword flew out of the Goblin's hands and wedged itself into the ground.

Let's finish this...

I then issued Cross Slash, once the X wound was issued it met my sword's thrust on its chest flailing it back. I rushed to it seizing my chance. Once I was in front of it I let all my strength loose on my last strike and did a full arc horizontal slash toppling it back even further. Blood came running out of the deep wounds that covered its chest, it staggered and took a few steps back before finally falling on to the ground.

I plunged my Flint sword into the ground as a support for me to recuperate myself with. The windows then came flowing out.

[+35 EXP]  
[+1 STR + 1 FRT]

[LEVEL UP! LvL 4 5]

[3 Attribute points added]

[Unspent Attribute points 15]

[One-Handed Straight Sword LVL 2 3]

[New technique learned!]

[? will be added to Sword Techniques]

Yes! I leveled up! That makes it 15 points to spend now, I need to set a time to spend them.

A new technique? Well guess I might as well see it.

Skills are obtained the same way as every other skill by doing it. They are two qualifications for an action to be recorded as a skill. It has to be methodological, it must have a precise purpose as to what it is supposed to do as well as a clear idea how it is supposed to be performed. These were probably made to prevent just any random attack to be called a skill.

[?]

[A Full Arcing Swing]

Hm… Ah I remember this.

"Round Accel"

I almost forgot about this skill. This is supposed to be more of an AOE skill, but I guess I remembered this skill in the heat of the moment.

[Round Accel]

[A Full Arc Swing]

A new unique feature about skills is that there isn't any damage value or cost value. The reason why there isn't any Damage value or Cost value is because it's not exact. Take punching for instance, when you punch someone in the game it would equivalent to how much strength the player has and would in turn incorporate it as damage, however in real life no matter how much strength a person has they can't pull the full potential of it. Basically the damage will fluctuate along with the cost value depending on how the skill will be used it will probably be the same way for magic skills.

It then disappeared.

After a few minutes of resting after the battle I took up my Flint sword and looked at my surroundings. The forest's clearing was dyed with blood everywhere. My Hp was very slowly regenerating. It seems it's going to take a few hours before these wounds can heal completely.

Ah! It still hurts... Take it slow...

That was fun though...haha…

I open up my stat window excitedly

LVL: 5

HP: 42/52

MP: 20

SP: 35/68

STR: 7

FRT: 10

DEX: 14

AGI: 14

END: 0.03 SP/s

VIT: 0.005 HP/s

MS: 5

MC: 4

MR: 0.001 MP/s

Points: 15

STATUS: Wounded

Skills

Active

Straight Sword Arts

Cross Slash LVL 4

Lunge LVL 3

Round Accel LVL 1

Passive

Hand to Hand Combat Mastery LVL: 3

One-Handed Dagger Mastery LVL: 1

One-Handed Straight Sword Mastery LVL: 3

Support

Language Comprehension

-English LVL: MAX

Mathematics

-Simple Math LVL: MAX

Crafting

Recipes: ~

Skills: 11

Cooking

Recipes: ~

Skills: 1

Harvesting

Skills: 7

Special

Awakened LVL MAX

Magic Perception LVL 1

It's not a drastic improvement when you consider the numbers, but it's the fact that I am improving is what's valuable about it. My skills aren't doing so bad either.

I look down and grip my fist with a satisfied smile. Progress is one of the greatest joys in any game after all.

"It's about time, I call it a day."

I collected my loot and readily headed back to the Guild.

END OF UPDATE


	9. Chapter 9

UPDATE 9: Back at the workplace

After some time I arrived at the village around late afternoon….

The guards and Sam were surprised to see that I had so many wounds on my body and told me to go visit the hospital. Seriously just yesterday these people always have hard looks to me, but now they seem worried. Not that I dislike it, I'm starting to favor this town. I should probably enjoy that kind of behavior while I'm here.

I made my way towards the Adventurer's Guild and went through the entrance.

I didn't want to attract any attention to me, though unfortunately I did.

A man wearing a full set of plate armor without his helmet around 6 feet tall came in front of me. He looked to be in his early to mid thirties and had the same atmosphere as your regular school bully.

"Hey kid, you lost? This isn't the hospital."

"Oh, no. I came to claim my quest rewards for the day."

"Eh? You're an adventurer?"

"Um, Yes."

I was a bit confused where he was taking this conversation, but I understood in the next moment.

When he heard me he began laughing hysterically as if it was the best joke he ever heard, obviously he didn't believe me.

"You? An adventurer? Listen, just get out. Your wasting the guild's time and effort to make a guild card for a dead man. Heck you're already half dead as it is, your all torn to shreds and barely any equipment. What makes you think you're an adventurer?"

Oh god... Not that I give a damn about anything he is saying, but goddamn it's so annoying. I was about to show him my guild card, but I didn't want to press on any further with this. Slowly more and more eyes turned to us. I could already hear whispers from the crowd. Lets just get this over with.

"Is that all you have to say? If so I'll be passing by."

I went past him towards the reception table, but he grabbed my shoulder and made me stop.

"I'm not done with you yet-"

He was about to grab me until a woman in the same uniform as Stella interrupted him. She had a beautiful face, though the most noticeable feature is her long sharp ears.

I'm guessing she's a High Elf since they are the ones mostly seen around other races.

"Gregory what do you think you're doing? What have I told you about bullying others?"

"I wasn't bullying I was only giving some advice."

"I heard. Well, for your information this man was made an adventurer just 5 days ago. Zach show him your guild card."

I don't know who this person was, but she seems to be helping me so I'll play along. I took my guild card out of my pocket and showed it to him. He was shocked as well as some of the others in the room, though most of them were laughing silently.

"What?! This guy doesn't even have any proper equipment, and look at him now. How the hell is he fit to be an adventurer? He literally looks like shit."

He smirked before looking back at me. His face froze as he saw me rearing by blade full of bloodlust. His reflexes finally kicked in a few seconds after and reared back, but not before receiving a slash to his cheek. He fell to the ground as I pointed my sword towards him.

"Hey… what rank are you?"

"B-Bronze D Rank"

" You could have died there you know? I thought adventurer's are supposed to get better as they go through the ranks, are you really Bronze Rank? From my standpoint I'd say you're the one who looks like shit"

The crowd stared at the scene and began cheering me on.

"Haha, the new kid's got some backbone this time."

"Gregory's finally got a taste of his own medicine."

"Ya, hear that gregor? A toast to the newbie eh boys?"

I'm not a big fan of attention, but for things like this, it's more sweeter in front of a crowd.

They all laughed at him. He looked around and looked back to me furious.

"I'll show you-!"

He was about to grab his sword until an ominous aura was felt throughout the Guildhall, its origin Cera. Nobody moved a muscle as she smiled.

"No fighting in the Guildhall."

"Y-Yes. Forgive me."

It seems I was right, she does hold a lot of power here, everyone seems to both respect and fear her. At that moment I made a mental note not to cross this woman.

Her eyes narrowed further in annoyance before speaking to the bully.

"The adventurer guild takes anyone who can do a job. Though I do understand what you mean, the guild would at least make sure that a person would have proper equipment before joining, though the guild master was too late on that note. However even though he does look like this, he is here after his trips to the great forest day by day. That proves well enough that he is fit to be an adventurer just like the rest of you.

Everyone showed smiles as if proud of their profession and throwing mean comments at him. Gregory was placed into a corner by everyone around him that he didn't know what to say next.

"Cera you can't be serious!"

"By the way Gregory, if you can't even take on one of your juniors then perhaps you don't deserve your ranking, we can schedule a demotion."

The man named Gregory wasn't smirking anymore, he became worried and started to sweat bullets. It seems this person has a lot of power in this place, it even made me shudder.

"N-No! That's not what I-"

"Then take a seat."

Gregory showed a sour face then turned to me with narrow eyes of frustration and anger silently saying "I'll get you back for this." Though it seemed that others were pleased with these turn of events, doesn't seem to be the kind of guy that's favored by people.

I turned back to her. I should probably say my thanks...

"Um, thank you."

"Don't mention it. My name is Cera Anri, I am a High Elf. I'm the Guild Master's right hand. I must apologize for Gregorys behavior, he has a tendency of picking on the newcomers."

I'm not surprised. If I was the same as before I would have already beat him to a pulp for doing that. For now I should probably just ignore him.

"Stella told me about you when you took the quest this morning, she told me you had some unique equipment for a newbie, and seeing you now I honestly can't agree more."

"I don't really have enough money to buy proper equipment so…."

"Is that so. I heard you went on a Slash Rabbit hunt as part of your quest, but I can only think that you had it difficult this time."

"Well..."

Before I could complete my sentence Stella came out of a back door.

"Ah, Cera! Is there something wro- Zach! What happened to you!"

She had a shocked look on her face seeing my current state. I began scratching my cheek in nervousness of what to say next.

"Nothing much."

"Nothing much? You look terrible!"

She exclaimed similar to how a worried parent would react when their children get beat up by the local neighborhood bully.

I hate to admit it but she's right. It might not look too bad considering my HP loss during that fight and I could fairly say I avoided most of the hits, if it weren't for the metal sword I probably could have gotten out of there with less. My Vitality is pretty low making my healing slow as well and currently I have 39 HP. The wounds still hurt too, I've never felt this kind of pain since again there was never any pain in the original game, but now there is. I'm trying my best to be as composed as I can in front of her to not make her worried.

"It's fine."

I said as I held on one of the deeper cuts on my arm.

"I just came down to check on how things were doing, coincidentally I found your client being bullied."

"Eh?! Are you alright?!"

"I'm fine. Anyway I want to claim my quest and sell some monster parts."

She then gave of an aura of blood thirst as she scanned the area. Her eyes stopped at her target Gregory easily being the first suspect. Gregory began to sweat and avoid eye contact, I tried to look natural but even I was a bit frightened by her.

"Um, Stella…"

She then snapped back to reality realizing what she did and shook her head a couple of times to dismiss her worries trying to focus on her job.

"Ah, right. Your quest report please."

She then handed me a piece of paper that looked like an info sheet. This is essentially a way the guild can record one's findings during an adventurer's quest to add both portfolio and to overseer what's happening outside of the Guild. I filled it out best I could from what Latin I've learned so far, whilst talking to them.

"I'm curious, besides the lack of armor, what could have hurt you so badly? I know you went hunting slash rabbits and some other monsters in the forest, but Stella says you've been handling the same kinds of quests the last couple of days and have brought back similar items and remain barely wounded, so what happened today?"

"You'll find that out in the report."

Both of them began to read it and stopped as soon as they saw the word Goblin.

"Goblins?!"

"How were you able to kill five Goblins like that?"

Stella immediately became furious at me.

"Zach! I told you this morning not to rush didn't I?!"

"I didn't go out searching for them! They found me and well…"

Whispers began to circle around the guild. Everyone seemed as surprised as Cera and Stella was, the one who was most surprise was my bully looking at me with widened eyes. Everyone's ears became sharp to hear my reply to Cera's question, though I gave them a vague answer.

"I wouldn't say without any equipment. When I got in the forest I just made my own equipment like this knife."

I took the flint knife out of my pocket. Looking at their dumbfounded faces I don't think a lot of them thought this sort of weapon can kill anything, I can actually see expressions of amazement and disbelief coming from them.

"Quite resourceful of you, something a lot of our beginner adventurer's don't have nowadays."

Upon her statement, the newcomers who usually jeer at me had arrows piercing them.

Haha! That's what you get for making fun of me!

"Are you sure you're new to this? Seems like you handle yourself well despite all your inconveniences."

The rest continued to stay quiet and listen, but I could feel their eyes watching me trying to look through me and making conclusions as to my achievement.

"Is it really rare for a person to kill a couple of Goblins?"

"Even though Goblins are one of the lower creatures, they are still treated as fairly difficult to handle without sufficient experience most of are newbies are still recommended to avoid them until they are in Copper C Rank."

I see… If Goblins are able to come up with strategies like that then that ranking would be understandable. It makes me worried how many other monsters could be more difficult because of their raise in intelligence.

"You also mentioned you fought a Goblin Platoon Leader in your report, I assume that is where you found your sword. And were using a hi- and ru- strategy. Correct?"

"Hit and run, sorry I can't write that well yet. But yes."

Suddenly Lilith, with an exhilarated tone shouted out loud

"You killed a Goblin Platoon Leader?!"

Stella shout could be heard throughout the Guild's first and second floors, I'm not sure about the third, but I sure hope they didn't hear anything. The others on the first floor began reacting to the sudden discovery.

"What?!"

"Copper E rank killing a Goblin Platoon"

"Something's not right here."

I was already sweating and scratching my cheek from the pressure around me trying to keep my cool.

"Stella, don't shout."

"Y-Yes."

"Alright everything's in order. I assume you have things to sell don't you? Leave it to me I'll have someone appraise them for you."

"Eh? Cera, I'm sure you're busy. You don't need to do this."

"No it's alright. There is not a lot of work from the Guild Master so this is no problem."

"Thank you Cera."

"Can I also borrow your guild card please."

"Um, sure."

I took them all out and handed them to her.

"I'll be back shortly."

Cera then disappeared into a backdoor behind the desk. I'm hearing even more whispers behind me. My goal wasn't to attract attention it seems that isn't an option for me, at least it wasn't something too grand.

"Your really amazing don't you know Zach."

"Well I wish you wouldn't have announced it to everyone here."

"I was excited, I've never met someone like you before."

"You flatter me a bit too much. I'm really not all the same as how you see me."

"Then you better not betray my expectations."

I sighed at that comment then gave a smile after.

"I'll try not to."

Minutes later, Cera came back with a brown bag and my guild card.

"Zach here is your guild card and your payment. You are now Copper C rank."

Most of the people weren't surprised about this turn of events and have expected this to happen. I turned to my bully still in the corner mumbling stuff while looking at me with glaring eyes, it seems he's a bit salty as well as some others. Though there were still those who were slack-jawed about this coming from the youth's who looked almost the same age as I am or was though I did however see some expressions of amazement.

Sigh, I'm not really used to this kind of attention even if this is a different world. I can only make a sour face as I felt all the attention from the room target me.

Now I don't think it will be possible for me to have a low profile here in the guild anymore thanks to this incident... I snapped out of my depressed state and came back to reality.

"Well then, I guess I'll be heading off now."

"Go to the hospital alright? It would worry me if I keep seeing you like that any longer."

"Okay, Okay. I'll see you again tomorrow. Bye you two."

Both of the said their goodbyes as I walked out. I made my way to the hospital to get my wounds checked and went back to the inn.

That was some day huh?

I threw my stuff aside and as usual fell on my bed.

Well it was more fun than usual I guess. So does that mean I can go deeper into the forest now? I forgot to ask that. I got a good payday today, I should schedule a shopping trip soon.

My vision slowly went to my left hand. I wonder when I'll meet her again….

I watched the ceiling planning my next moves, as time past my eyes slowly drooped down and soon fell asleep for the rest of the night.

END OF UPDATE


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10: Second Meeting

I awoke in the empty space and lighting it up the same light blue sigil on my left hand.

This is the third time I'm here... Where is she?

The voice I desired then answered.

"Ah, Zach you're here."

"Oh, right. I am sorry for what happened yesterday, but I am ready to answer your questions, however there are still some things I must conceal to you so bear please bear with it."

"Ah, n-no it's fine, but please provide proper answers this time."

"Of course."

I cleared my throat before I spoke my next words and cleared my mind to focus.

"Before we start. Can I call you by anything? Or are you still not ready to tell your name yet?"

It would be kind of awkward for me to speak or even trust someone if I didn't know their name, so I was hoping she would give me something to call her, but...

"I am afraid so."

She's still trying to hide it.

Why? I don't understand. I'll forget that for now, I have more pressing questions I want answered.

"Well, there is no use bothering it if you don't want to tell me. Next what are you?"

She paused for a second before giving her answer. I was expecting her to say something intelligent or sophisticated, because I'm actually curious how I'm speaking to her right now.

"Let's say I am your Guardian Angel. Kukuku..."

I felt annoyance tingling and was trying my best not to expose it fully, but I couldn't just let that slide.

"Hey! I thought we agreed proper answers! Your being really difficult don't you know that?"

"Sorry, please continue."

She said teasingly. Though I can't see her face, I can paint an image of how she is reacting. As of now she is not answering any of my questions...

Grr... This woman... whatever. If she won't tell me what she is, then this next question should be able to give me some clue.

"You said yesterday that you have watched me ever since, then you understand the circumstances of my situation, correct?"

This time she answered quickly with a more acceptable response.

"Yes, you are trapped in Astral world created by Arthur its creator and the only way to escape is if you win."

So she does know. There would be no chance of her being someone from the outside world, since I don't believe anyone else can get in here thanks to Astral's complicated and advanced security they placed on this system as well as being able to show me the images during the first time I came here. The only logical explanation is that she is apart of the system like everything else.

Then the most likely explanation would be that she is... I still have my doubts, but what can I get out of it if I don't ask?

"Would it be far fetched if you were an AI?"

"Kukuku... Smart as always. Yes, I am an AI, I was one of the key factors in world's creation. Now my assignment is to ensure your safety throughout your stay in this world."

What I found interesting about what she said was her "assignment". Why would anyone want to ensure my safety? Sure there are people in Astral who know me, but I don't know anyone well enough for them to care about me that much. Also she said she was here ever since this world existed, is she speaking since the start? Whatever I'll ask that another time.

"Who created you? Astral? And why were you assigned to protect me?"

The atmosphere changed when she didn't reply as quick.

Was there something wrong with what I asked or was it something else. She soon answered the question, but with a bleak tone as if disappointed in herself.

"I am sorry, I cannot comply to answer that question."

What?! Is she-! No, she can't be fooling around, again I can't see her, but I can imagine how she looks like from the tone of her voice and it doesn't sound so bright.

"Why?"

With the same depressing tone she answers me.

"There are gaps in my memory... it has been years since I was given this assignment... I cannot say for certain if I can give answers for those types of questions...but yes. I do remember that it was a person from Astral who created me, however I can't determine who it was… I'm sorry."

I can imagine a girl sitting on in front of a desk with a downcast expression with her hands holding on to her head as of now. That's how I at least see it in my imagination. Other than that, I guess there's no helping it. I mean she is still technically a program, who knows something might have damaged her code or maybe they neglected her making her turn out this way. I should find out as much as I can before she decides to let me out. Speaking of which.

"It's alright. Ok,so um our first meeting you were only able to talk to me for a few seconds, can't it be longer similar to how we are now?"

"Ah, yes regarding that. Ever since you entered this world, your mind as well as mine were synced making it possible for us to have this conversation. In recent years, my power has been slowly fading, and these conversations we are having right now are draining what little I have of it left. I will need to go into a hibernation phase for me to be able to restore it permanently as well as for our future event. I wish to have told you this sooner, but it wasn't enough to be able to last this long, once our conversation is over I will not be around to talk to you for a while."

That clears up the important questions I wanted to ask her. I don't understand everything yet or how this came to be, but guess I'll leave to save the others for our next meeting. Though she said she needed her strength for a future event, probably with me...

"I understand. But Future event?"

I was curious to know, but she wasn't willing to tell me yet.

"The time is not ripe yet for me to tell you. Also I am close to my limit of my power usage."

"Ah, okay. I'm satisfied with our meeting now. So I guess I'll see you next time then."

She then responded with a much more spirited tone to send of her goodbye's

"Agreed, I shall see you soon."

The empty space slowly disappeared around me and soon my eyes opened once more.

"I wonder how soon..."

I woke in my room. The sunlight from the slightly drawn drapes reflected of the swords blade towards me in the corner of my eye

I took a short glance at it before smiling. I got up, ate my breakfast and put on the backpack I bought and tightly grip my sword as I walked out of the inn.

I felt as though I was more determined with excitement for what else awaited for me in this world.

I wonder what I'll be doing today?

END OF UPDATE


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11: The Helpless mage

After I was given confirmation to take quests and go further into the Great Forest, I felt excited that I will be allowed to hunt some real game and I intended to take full advantage of it. There were a few adventurers who were displeased by this sudden occurrence most of them coming from those were were in Iron or Bronze since they had to go through the system accordingly. For a while I was actually pestered by a lot of people, though it wasn't all bad. A lot of the newer adventurers came to me for some advice and inviting me to be in their party.

Asking advice is fine, but joining a party….. Sigh….. In the end I practically refused all of them when it came to that. It's not that I don't like being in a party, I will if it is necessary, but for the most part I really don't like being around a lot of people. And in this world, you don't know who you can or cannot trust so it makes it even harder for me to be in one. That was until I met a certain person….

After I received my payment, I went on a shopping trip.

My appearance looked like an average villager carrying a backpack of bits and weird whatnots at the same time cloth pouches at my waist along with holstering a sword in a scabbard. The protection I managed to buy were pairs of somewhat decent leather vanguards on my forearms and lower legs along with some gloves and boots.

I wasn't able to buy anything fancy, but having it is better not having it at all. I was finally starting to look like an actual adventurer.

I was making my way to the guild on another usual day. I step through the guild's doors walking to the guild's counter as I do. I notice something was oddly different though, the usual face that comes to see me isn't here. One of the receptionists approached me.

"Excuse me, is there anything I can help you with?"

"Um, yeah. Is Stella not here today? She's always the one who's with me when I'm here."

"Ah, She's not in today. She said that she was taking a trip to visit some family outside the city for a couple of weeks."

She's out of town huh? Well, this shouldn't be too much of a problem.

"Oh, ok. Could I ask what are the available quests today?"

She did the usual procedure as Stella and recited a number of quests enlisted to the guild. As I continue to listen, I feel the presence of something ominous and quickly turned behind me. It was a girl… she was wearing what could only be guessed as a mage's arsenal. She wielded a typical long staff with a large gem at one of its ends, a small bag and a large book that hung at her waist and a long robe with a hood on covering a lustful body.

Other than her outfit I could tell that she was a mage because I can detect magic radiating off of her, it's not much from the other magic users who flaunt it about, but doesn't she know how to control it?

I also felt...something else from her, that ominous feeling… I can't sense it anymore. Probably just my imagination...

Her soft voice then came to my ears and asks with a soft and shy tone.

"Um, excuse me. M-May I join your party?"

Parties huh? I guess I'm going to have to reject another one…

But before I could say anything her voice bursted out with her forced introduction.

"Um…! M-My name is Lilith Arde. I'm a 2 star fire mage from the Nara city magic school. My adventurer rank is Copper D rank...! Um…."

Other adventurers who saw this scene gave it a laugh and the newbie's present sighed as they saw this already knowing what's going to happen. I sighed while looking at her somewhat panicked expression.

"I'm sorry I don't really want to form a party as of the moment."

"B-But I'm a mage I-I can support you while you fight!"

"I'm not in any need of a support, you could probably be of use to some of the other newbie parties."

"Please…! I can fight, but not alone."

"Then that isn't my problem, again I'm sure there are other parties that are better off than me you know?"

"I want to join your party though."

"Join someone else's."

Her cheeks began to fluster as she heard my immediate response and persisted on.

"Hrrrmmm! Please let me join!"

"I told you no."

For a few minutes she kept asking me and kept going round about with her reasons and excuses. She hasn't mentioned what I have done just a few days ago with the goblins, I assume she doesn't know. So I can't understand why she's being so persistent with me. The receptionist and the other bystanders watched this scene interested on the result. Her eyes darted to the counter and found my guild card.

"Zachary Isaac Fallen… Eh…? Zachary? As in Zachary Fallen, the newbie adventurer who recently joined an is almost at Iron?!"

Crap… and now she does know who I am. Her eyes sparkled in admiration, but before she could even speak I repeated my same answer.

"No."

"B-But the Guild recommends new adventurers to be in parties-"

"Recommends, but not requires. I don't care if I'm new or not, I'm better off on my own. A lot of those who have offered to me see me as someone who is better and expect me to teach them. I don't want to be responsible for another person's life because of the advice I give them as they're "superior."

When I said that, some of the rookies present reacted with guilty expressions and the look of Lilith's face grew even more worried. Ignoring her expression I continued to go through my work and chose a random bunch of quests in an attempt to get away.

"Besides, as I am now, I'm not confident to be able to defend anyone but myself. Especially rearguards like you. So for your own sake it's better you find a different party. Thank you for the offer, but I'm sorry. Please excuse me…"

I tried to walk past her pacing quickly towards the doors, but her hand grabbed my shirt and halted me with her explosive voice.

"Please wait!"

I was already annoyed and thought about pushing her aside, but when I looked… She was shaking with her head facing down, trying to hold back her true feelings she forced out her voice.

"I-I just started being an adventurer, I don't know much about the area and the great forest. I thought it was going to be easy since I was a beginner, but after what happened a few days ago when I went adventuring solo… I-I don't want to die…"

She's being desperate because of the thought of not wanting to die. I guess I can't really empathize with her, even though I've been in a few life threatening situations, I've never really worried about it. Perhaps part of my mind still views this world as a game making me avoid my perception on this reality. Though it's a selfish and naive excuse, I can understand why that influences her. I was about to turn her down again, but looking at her, I can't help but reminisce an old feeling.

A loud noise rang through my head giving me a slight headache.

Why did I have to remember that!

For a few seconds I concentrated to forget about that memory and looked back at her still with a begging expression.

Dammit! I grit my teeth in frustration to my thoughts. I let out a defeated sigh to answer them and turned back to Lilith's scared expression. I don't like being a carry, but, if I reject her, it would be the same thing as possibly sending her to her death….

"Fine. I'll show you the ropes and some things about the forest, I'll party up with you."

Her face then brightened up looking at me with a thankful gaze.

"T-Thank you-!"

The other bystanders look at me in surprise, the newbies who offered to me before jeered at me and many jealous gazes from the male adventurers.

"That's unfair! Why did we get rejected, but not her? Pervert!"

"Grr...How lucky of him to find a partner like that!"

My face twisted into an annoyed look from all the bystanders. I continued to talk pretending to ignore the noise around me.

"But, only for a while. Once you've gotten a hang of the environment, I'm leaving."

Everyone at the moment stared at me and after a few seconds the jeering changed.

"Why are you so stubborn?!"

"To make a girl go that low only to leave her! Cruel bastard!"

What's with this crowd? Do they want me to be with her or not?! Annoying...

"I-I understand. I'll follow your lead, I promise not to get in the way."

I was surprised by her immediate agreement, I thought she would complain. She then noticed my eyes and averted hers.

"I-I'm sorry I didn't know who you were at first. I'm sorry we had to make a scene there."

"It's not a big deal, I'd prefer if less people know me, though I guess it's inevitable with what I've done. C'mon we're burning daylight, we'll talk more about our partnership later. I'll get a few quests for your rank, prepare yourself we'll be leaving in a few minutes."

"Y-Yes!"

And that was how we became a party. On the way to the forest I assess her knowledge of the forest's environment, the monsters, what can be collected, the locations of monsters and plants and appropriate strategies to approach them. My worry is assessment related to her role as a supposedly mage, I can probably use what I can from experience to do that, however I have to take into consideration a realists view and I don't think I can give any advice towards magic since I don't use it. I'll just see once we get into the forest. From my assessment she has a lot to learn, but she patiently and intently listens to me. I just hope she can put whatever I'm telling her to good use.

Later that day we entered the forest….

"Alright, I got a number of quests for you. Don't move carelessly, follow me and stay within my range of sight."

"Ok!"

We then ventured into the forest. Usually I would be more cautious when I enter the forest, but today was different…

"Zach what's that beast?"

"Zach what's this plant?"

Lilith kept asking me so many questions?! I know that she's new and all, and as her "Trainer" is good, but does she really not know anything? I answered most of her questions, thankfully none of the beasts tried to attack us. God, I feel like a tour guide…

"You really know a lot Zach."

"It's not that I know a lot, it's that you know nothing. Do you seriously have no information about this forest?"

"I-I know some things that you haven't told me!"

"Like what?"

"L-Like….."

Her eyes darted all over the place in an attempt to answer me with her cheeks puffed up like a child. I sighed. Lilith saw that and her cheeks flushed a slight red out of embarrassment.

"I-I do! Just give me a moment!"

She then spotted a red flower with many cup-like petals and eagerly tried to picked it up.

"Ah, you shouldn't pick that."

"Eh? Why? It smells good."

Oops said it too late…

Lilith's body began to sway losing some of her balance with eyes spinning in their sockets.

"Zach I'm my head is spinning…"

I covered my nose, took the flower out of her hands and placed it back on the ground where she found it.

"That's the Red mistress, it's a predatory plant that uses its scent to lure in insects. The smell however gets more stronger the closer it is, eventually the smell becomes too much making its victims fall into its pitcher traps. Though not lethal it can still affect larger life forms, the size often determines the duration and for humans that would be a few a seconds. I recommend you study the forest environment, always be prepared when your going into a new area otherwise don't think about venturing there in the first place."

"Muu…! Show off!"

I giggled a bit at the sight. She puffed her cheeks again embarrassed.

In the next second weird sounds came to our ears as we continued to search. Both of us were alerted and looked in its direction.

I slowly approached the sound and anchored my feet crouching on the ground behind a tree. Lilith did the same with her hands clenching on her staff behind me. When we took a peek at the source of the sound, it was a tall bird like creature feasting on newly killed wild boar.

"There it is, a Raptor. Our quest is collect its feathers. Stay down and don't make a sound they have excellent senses."

"How should we proceed?"

"I'll let you take it."

"Eh?!"

Surprised by my response she became panicked and nervous on what to do next.

"I want to see what you could do against live targets so that I can understand your strengths and weaknesses before I can give you any advice."

"B-but..!"

"Don't worry, I'll be here if things go south just focus on your opponent."

With my response, she nods

"Ok!"

She says determined, but her magic levels has been fluctuating ever since we entered. I don't know what kind of effect this will have on her performance, but I don't think it's going to end well.

I slowly move away to another position to observe her. She looks back at me waiting for my signal. I nod at her, she nervously looked ahead at the meter tall bird and summons her strength and stands to recite a chant.

The air around her slowly changes as she gathers her magical energy into her staff.

Magic began to gather around her ignited the air in flame and began to materialize into a shape into an arrow hovering just above her shoulder. It was formed in no more than a few seconds and was a spectacle to my eyes. In the next few seconds 2 more appeared around her. Wow, this looks really different from when this used to be a game...

"Flame Magic Arrow!"

At her command the blazing arrows flew towards their target leaving fiery trails in their path.

Upon finishing the Raptor also heard fiery bolt release and reacted far too late to notice the fiery bolt coming straight for it.

*Boom!*

Lilith's flaming arrows hit the raptor square on its breast spreading flame onto the bird's feathers. The raptor screeched running around panicked. Once it found its sights set on Lilith and began to sprint directly towards her ignoring its burning feathers.

Her magic levels began to concentrate indicating she was collecting magic to cast another spell, but her levels destabilized as she noticed the raptor was closing in on her position and quickly dodged out of the raptor's line of attack.

Why isn't she casting any spells?!

I went into my bag and took out one of my new tools.

It's appearance was of four ropes knotted together with stones tightly tied to their ends. It seemed like it wouldn't be able to do any significant damage at first sight, but that wasn't its purpose from the start. I grabbed it from my and twirled it around above my head, after two spins I launched it towards the raptor's legs.

The four ropes tangled around its stalks quickly incapacitating it right next to the fallen Lilith. It squirmed on the ground and before long found the rope hindering its movements and began to peck on it.

"Lilith! Attack now! That won't hold for long if it keeps up!"

The same flaming arrows began to gather above her shoulders and directed it once again at the raptor.

"Flame magic arrow!"

Her arrows fell upon the bird's body. With it incapacitated and its feathers acting as fuel for the flames it was not long before the raptor's entire body was immolated. When the fire died what was left was a pile of flesh burned to coal black.

15 EXP

What? Experience? But I wasn't the one who killed it. Is it because we're in a party? No there isn't any system that links experience, so why is it giving it to me? Nevermind that for now, at least I can still get resources out of her kills.

Well I was right, thankfully it didn't backfire on us. She needs to work on a lot of things based on my observation...

We both then approached the now dead Raptor. As I examine the raptor, a small voice spoke in my head.

Look at that damage! I've seen magic and know its effects, but seeing it here really entices my yearning to learn it now!

Lilith then speaks with exhaustion in her tone.

"T-Thank you. W-What was that thing you threw at the Raptor that made it fall?"

"That was a bolas. It's a throwing weapon used by hunters to catch their targets."

"It's an unusual design. Did you make that on your own?"

"Yes. Though I guess that one's ropes are all ashes now."

"S-sorry…"

She said with a worried expression.

"It's fine, they're disposable, I wanted to make them more sturdy, but I just made the ones I'm using with some grass and stone around here."

"Wow, you're really creative!"

"Yeah, and you should be too. If you aren't left with anything you have to make use with whatever you find around here in any environment."

When this was a game these were regarded as a low level weapon meant to be used as a starter for noobs just starting out. I don't want anything to get away so these came handy. I wasn't really fond of the conventional ranged weapons like bows and crossbows, though I did take my time to master some of the less conventional ones just in case because I found them easier to use and had more utility. I even have a sling here in my backpack.

Now other than crafting these weapons, my problem was hitting my target. I was never big on ranged weapons, but I still placed time into learning how to use such weapons if the situation required them.

However since this was real life my confidence of actually hitting my target as I am now shrunk to minuscule size. In the game, the system was there to assist so that a person's shot would actually hit its target depending on their strength, dexterity stats and their own personal accuracy. Meaning that people can whirl it around like a tornado and it would land on target.

To compensate my initial lack of skill, I spent three days to practice my throwing. It was a pain, but totally worth it. I have to admit my throws still aren't perfected to where it could hit my target every time. There were a few beasts that still got away, though so far it's of an adequate level to land on my targets.

Lilith's face posed an anxious look. With a stuttering voice she asks...

"H-How did I do?"

She's still showing signs of exhaustion. Since magic is the same as mental energy she's probably starting to feel the effects of slight fatigue. After she casts a spell and allocates magic for it, I can feel excess magic leaving her body. She really needs to control that in order to rid of fatigue happening frequently. Time for me to give her my comments.

"I wanted to measure your power to see how much damage you could do, and I'm impressed."

A smile came upon her face, though I abruptly interrupted it with my verdict.

"I want to say however, I don't know much about magic and its fundamentals, but by the looks of it you have a problem of controlling your power. As a mage your magical energy is essential for your survival in a battle, showing it off like that isn't going to cut it. If you waste too much energy you'll eventually be fatigued and unable to battle just like you are now. Magic control is even more important since your a fire mage with high destructive abilities, if you aren't able to contain it it could hurt other people or objects without your intentions."

She stood looking at me speechless. Did I say something wrong? I'm actually quite worried here!

"What? Say something!"

"I-I'm just a bit surprised. You don't look like the kind of person that would know much about magic, but you were still able to give sufficient advice about it."

"No, I've just read it in some books. Back to what I was saying you need to learn how to control your magic, I don't want to harvest smoldering bits of dead monsters."

"Yes. I-I'll be sure to improve next time-"

"I'm not done yet. You only used one spell during that whole fight. Don't you have other spells? Like one's for defense or countering attacks."

"I-I do."

"Then why didn't you use them? As a mage you have a wide arsenal of spells along with a good amount of magic power to cast a couple of them of at a time. You have to understand since you are a mage and not a fighter you must be more prepared if your enemies get too close, if you are not it will be fatal."

"I-Its because I lost concentration."

"Lost concentration?"

"Magical theory suggests that spells are like a sequence created through magic. A mage must be able to concentrate their magic in order to successfully reassemble that sequence to cast a spell. If a person isn't able to concentrate then their spells would have a lesser effect or otherwise no effect at all."

"I see…Then you need to avoid losing concentration, I don't want to see you freezing up in crucial moments. I advise you to please use your other spells in battles to make full use of yourself."

So that's it. That's quite interesting, I'm basing all my opinions at the moment from experience, and a lot of it is common sense in the context of mages and I'm sure she are taught this as well. There is a certain extent where my common sense won't be effective if I don't understand the laws of magic in this world. I'll have to dive deeper into the subject of magical theory if I really want to become a magic swordsman. I must say that I am surprised that that explanation came out of the mouth of Lilith, well I should at least expect it from a girl who went to magic school.

"C'mon let's see if we can harvest anything of what's left of this smoking bird. Once you've regained your magic we'll get a move on."

"Yes!"

Hours into the day we completed our quests and stumbled upon other animals that came our way. All the while I continued to watch and observe Lilith and gave her whatever advice I can. She's got ways to go…

We just finished cutting down a few more animals and preparing to harvest them…

I wiped the blood off my sword and sheathed it back into its scabbard, glancing at them for a few seconds whilst catching my breath and turned my view to Lilith. She looked at me with another amazed look.

"As a new adventurer like me I'm amazed you handle yourself so well! Where did you learn how to fight?"

"Well, um… I used to be taught by someone in the village I grew up in."

"Really? H-He must have been a good teacher then."

"Y-You flatter me too much. Were technically still within the reaches of the safe zone, it's nothing to boast about."

"Why don't you use your bolas more often? Wouldn't it be easier for you if they couldn't move?"

"It's good to have options and strategies, but I don't want to depend on the same tricks all the time, I wouldn't learn a thing and I couldn't train my other skills besides throwing."

"I see."

She looks around in a few directions and points into a direction.

"Zach, I need to um..."

She begins pointing to her underside. I guess she needs to take a leak.

"Alright, make it quick and be careful!"

"Y-Yes!"

She then went into the direction she was pointing to in a hurry.

When she was out of sight, I sighed to myself.

This whole senior thing is exhausting, especially if it's Lilith. Well she's obedient and she seems ok so far, she looks determined as well. She could probably help me while I'm with her too. Maybe this wasn't such a bad decision on my part.

In the next minute I hear a scream.

"ZAAACCH! Please help me!"

"Eh?"

I was confused at first. After a while I saw Lilith with her face drained of color and running towards me. Suddenly I hear barking coming from behind her. Squinting my eyes in her direction trying to see what was chasing her. Behind her were 5 big grey dogs chasing her.

Wait, those are wolves?! The next thing I knew I began to run as well.

I guess I spoke too soon!

"Why did you bring a pack of wolves to me?!"

"I was wandering around then suddenly well…"

"I told you not to move carelessly!"

"I'm sorry!"

We continued to run for a few more minutes trying to lose the wolves, but their speed is not something to joke about, no matter what, we can't outrun them.

Just when I thought our luck wasn't getting any worse. Lilith's foot slips and makes her falling of a slope. Her body rolled down nonstop, the wolves turned their gaze and opportunistically followed her down with haste. Her body then came to a halt. She struggled to get up, and once she looked in front of her a pack of hungry wolves cornered her. The horror upon her face as she realizes that this may be her end.

I quickly took out another one of my new tools, which looked like a long line of rope with a thicker rope crafted into a shape as if to hold something in it at its middle. At the same time I pulled a stone from my pouch and cocked it in and started whirling it around at my side. Energy began to gather as I spun it around with my wrist directed it at the wolves.

The wolf was pounced, but was knocked down with the stone I launched at it. I threw a couple more stones so that their eyes would face me and not Lilith allowing me to approach her with their aggro still on me.

Once I was in front of them I found a thick branch right beside us and wielded it with both hands.

The wolves growled at us and slowly tried to get closer to us. One of them lunged forward to make a quick strike. I whacked it away and moved backward with Lilith behind me. I continued to swing the branch to keep them away until the branch's durability was exhausted producing a crunching sound.

"Lilith, use a spell now!"

"Yes!"

Her magic began to gather in front of us to form a wall and with her command activated...

"Flame wall!"

In the next second a blast of rippling heat fell on us, I shielded myself to avoid some of it. When I finally reopened my eyes a 6 foot wall of fire stood between us and the wolves. The wolves wide-eyed and confused were frightened by the sudden fire wall that appeared in front of them and tailed back running.

"C'mon, let's go before the wall wears out!"

"O-Oka-Hyaa!"

We kept running until we were closer to the forest's edge. Once we were in the clear we started to head back to the city…

"Don't ever do that again!"

"I-I'm sorry! I-It won't happen again!"

I scratched my head frustrated at her, but brushed it off. Lilith feeling guilty for what happened stayed quiet for a few seconds before speaking nervously.

"Z-Zach why did you use a branch instead of your sword? I've seen how you are when you're fighting and animals such as wolves surely don't compete with your skill."

I rubbed my nape upon hearing her question which was by all means logical to ask. I kept looking ahead and gave my answer...

"I don't need to kill everything that comes my way and just because I can take them on doesn't mean I have or want to, especially for animals, it's in their nature. The same goes for other living things, that is depending on the circumstance, a balance must be kept."

She giggled at me trying to hide my expression from my answer.

"Hehehe. So Zach is actually quite nice."

Annoying! I broke the atmosphere with my next response...

"There is also the fact that it was because of you being careless that they were led to me. It wasn't their fault that they found us"

Her face immediately changed and realized what I just said dyeing her face red in reaction to my statement.

"It's not my fault!"

"It is. How did they even find you? There weren't any signs of wolves at or near our location."

"You see, I found an adorable puppy, I wanted to rub and pet it, but it's family showed up and…"

"Then it is you're fault."

"H-Hey! It's not!... well….. I'm sorry."

Knowing that I was correct she didn't persist on arguing and faced down. I sighed...

"It's only our first day, you shouldn't be too hard on yourself. I'm sure you'll do better in the coming days."

She then looks up to me with a more or less relieved smile with pink cheeks and with a mellow voice.

"Thank you."

I smiled back.

Though a small voice inside me is saying: What did I get myself into? It was a nice change of pace for once though. Well I'll just hope for the best for us now.

Both of us continued travelling until we came back to the city.

END OF UPDATE


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

I walked into the guild's doors, looking around in the crowds. After some time of viewing the area I had a sigh of relief.

Maybe she didn't come in today? Good, maybe I can get some work done for once.

"Zach! I'm here!"

Tch...Spoke too soon…

A carefree girl entered the guild behind me, inspecting the lobby. Once she saw me she went straight for me.

"Zach are you trying to hide from me?"

"Now, why would I do that?"

"So, What's on today's list?"

Annoying troublesome little girl. Why did you have to come in today?

It's approaching the end of the month, and it's been a few days since I've partied up with Lilith, work for me seems to have gotten… difficult, not just because I'm in a party now meaning I have to protect her as the vanguard, but even more annoying is that Lilith is a handicap!

The last few days I've been analyzing her weaknesses in order to advise them, there's a lot I'm telling you, but here are some of her most common mistakes...

Easily frightened. We were going to face of against a rodent like creature almost like a giant rat. I was about to advise her how she should deal with this, but….

"Okay, remember that-"

"Screeech!"

"GAAH!"

She screamed and ran…. Because of a measly screech… it wasn't even that loud either...

The rat made a jumping lunge at me...

"Screeeech!"

"Ahh!"

I had to deal with it on my own…

Easily Distracted. We were in a 5 versus 2 situation, we managed to kill 4 of our targets and the last two didn't focus on me. Which was bad enough, however in the middle of a fight…

"Hey! What's that?"

She was literally looking into space, I don't even know what she was looking at. Which made me infuriated.

"What are you looking at! Behind you!"

"Eh?"

She only noticed until it was right in front of her...

"AAAAHHH!"

I had to protect her…

Indecisive….

Two enemies were charging right for me...

"W-Wh-What should I do?!"

"Shoot them with your magic!"

"Which one?!"

"Any one of them!"

She chants her spell and immediately shoots it eyes closed. I jumped out of the way of its path and once it reached it exploded leaving the beasts running all over the place covered in flames.

"Phew."

It took me a few seconds to smell something burning and hot from my back. The sound of crackling and my shirt turning even furthur to black.

Huh? It seems I'm on fire… Wait…!

"I'm on FIRE!"

"I-I'm sorry!"

Oh, did I forget to mention uncontrollable magic?

God, it is a pain to work with her. We were walking on our usual path to the forest. None of us said a word to each other. Until Lilith's voice broke through the silence.

"Um, Zach?

"Yes?"

"May I ask if you could introduce yourself?"

"Did, I not do that?"

"I mean, who are you?"

"I'm not telling you that."

"Why not?! I thought were in a party now!"

"It's a temporary agreement, not for long-term. Even if it was, I still wouldn't tell you. In this world it pays to have a sense of trust first before you ask personal questions like that."

"Then fine! I'll tell you about my past and you tell me about yours!"

"Go ahead, but I'm telling you it's futile."

Determined she took a breath and was about to speak. But before she can speak another word, a familiar voice broke through the atmosphere.

"Hey Zach!"

We both turned heads to the voice. A woman with gray hair wearing the same outfit I first met her with her bow and arrows equipped, Alice. It's been about just over two and a half weeks since I first met her. I would see her every once in a while, and ever since our first meeting, her personality has proved to be quite likeable and dependable. Every time we would meet we'd have some small talk, ask how each other was doing, she'd give me some advice if I asked, so on so forth. I felt relieved to see another face that I know, especially after what I've been through the last few days with Lilith.

"Oh, hey Alice. Surprised to see you so early in the morning. Looking like your usual self"

"Oh? What is that?"

"Confident, and fine I guess."

"Really? Thanks, you kinda look the opposite. Anything been going on?"

"I rather not talk about it. Only you today?"

"Yeah, I was about to do a couple of errands and left her to play in the city."

We continued our chat for another minute or two, then her eyes moved towards to Lilith just behind me.

"By the way, who's the new the face?"

"Oh, right. Let me introduce you. Lilith, this is Alice, I met her on my way when I first came to this city. I've only met her a couple of times, but I can say that she's smart and dependable."

Alice blushed slightly and giggled covering her smile.

"Alice, this is Lilith, my temporary partner. She's a newbie adventurer who recently came to the city just like me. She's um…. Well…"

I paused, the two waited for my answer.

"Good enough… I guess…"

Lilith, immediately reacted violently to my comment.

"What is that supposed to mean!"

"Anyway…. We should probably get going… See you next time"

"Hey! Don't ignore me! I-I'm sorry, it seems we have to go."

I was about to get a move on with Lilith, Alice stopped us again.

"Are you by any chance going to the forest to hunt?"

"Um, yeah."

"Can I join you for this one? I usually go with my group, but they're currently not available at the moment, and were pretty low on cash, so if it's not too much to ask can I join you for this one?"

"Yes! Please!"

I bursted out. She stared at me surprised for a few seconds before I could regain my composure.

"I mean, sure, it would be nice to have an extra hand around."

If this was before I partied with Lilith, I would have refused, but seeing my current situation… I need help here!

"Thanks! I promise I'll pull my weight"

I sure hope this works out…

We continued to trail the road and reached the forest entrance and began to venture in it.

I have to admit it feels nice to have someone I can actually talk to comfortably. It's not that I don't like Lilith as a person, it's just that I have a hard time liking her as an adventurer. She's just like your newbie coworker that comes into the office on their first day who can't seem to get anything right. The reason we can't really talk to each other is because I'm fed up with trying to teach her and despite how she tries to keep her positive attitude she knows that and is unable to respond to me. Sure she's annoying, but she'll learn, I hope. Right now, I'm glad that Alice is here to act as a medium to balance it out.

She then turned to me.

"I thought you said you were a solo Zach, what happened?"

"I remember Sam asking me the same question along with being jealous when I first came to the gate with her."

"Well you can't deny that she's quite cute and with a body like hers it's a perfect combo. Wait, don't tell me you-"

"No, I did not let her join because of her looks. To answer your earlier question, it's a story I don't want to talk about. Trust me, better you don't know."

"Well, fine. Though I've been hearing some interesting rumours about a fresh copper adventurer approaching Iron soon, know anything about it?"

"Those bastards at the guild… I hate this attention, I hope it dies out soon."

"So you are! That's quite amazing considering since you've just came to the city!"

"What's up with everyone thinking that it's so amazing? Seriously, are people just weak or is the ranking system in need of a rework?"

"Don't get too cocky, you haven't seen anything yet. It's a fact that every major ranking as an adventurer has dangers far more worse than the last."

"Sigh… I know... "

"Though, I am curious, you approached that rank solo right? What's your secret?"

"You already know my answer to questions like that."

"Still not willing to tell me?"

"You've helped me a ton, but I can't easily trust anyone as of now. Not even Sam who appears as a blockhead at times can I trust so easily, though I do admit he is the one I have the most trust in at this point along with Lilith who's practically clueless about most things."

"HEY! I heard that!"

"That's good, it pays well to have a certain amount of trust towards other people."

She then diverted her attention to Lilith and began to question her.

"So Lilith, how long have you been partnering with Zach?"

"Um, we started adventuring a few days ago."

"How is Zach by the way, I don't usually see him a lot so I was wondering if you could fill me in."

"Zach has been very kind to me and is a good teacher. He can be strict at times but is very helpful."

"I see. Well that's good then."

"Why the long face? Tell me did Zach do anything indecent to you?"

"ALICE!" I raised my voice agitated

"Okay okay, I'm just teasing you."

"N-No, Zach hasn't done anything bad to me more so making any advances on me. It's just that, I always keep getting saved by him, so it makes me feel like I'm dead weight."

"Hm, well. You can't do anything about that, but get stronger right? I'm sure you'll do a whole lot better this time around, besides you're a mage! You'll be fine."

"Thanks."

I glanced at the both of them chatting and a slight smile appeared as I watched them especially Lilith smiling. I turned my gaze back and saw a group of figures in the distance.

"Both of you get down!"

Both of them did as they were told and slowly followed me through the vegetation.

In front of us was a herd of deer feeding of the foliage. They're appearance was what you would expect a deer would look like in the real world, though among them was one that had 4 horns protruding from its head with a much larger build at that.

"Alice, do you see that?"

"S-See what? The deer?"

"Yeah, that's an Elk amongst the herd."

Elks back in the real world are a species of large deer, but here they are used to describe the leaders of the herd or an alpha. They are a special breed, though not common, not rare either. Their bodies are able to take quite a lot of punishment and their four antlers hard and sturdy along with medicinal properties greater than average deers. It will make a profit if we were able to bring it back and sell it!

"Well, it would be great, if we could get it. But they'd bolt into a stampede the second we do anything hasty-"

"Lets get it."

I said abruptly interrupting her.

"What?!"

"You have got to be joking me Zach! You can't be serious!"

They both exclaimed.

"None of the quests today were interesting nor were there any easy ones for Lilith and I to make a quick payday, also aren't you going to sell whatever you were going to kill anyway? This deer is quite an opportunity don't you think?"

"You're not wrong, but even if we're only going for one, considering their numbers and ours don't you think it's dangerous for us to engage them?"

"I've got a plan. Don't worry, if this plays out right we'll all get a good amount of coin from this."

"Hrrmm, alright then, this is our first time working together so I'm curious to see how you do on the playing field."

"Same goes for you, this plan will be much easier with you and your bow around."

As we both exchanged small banter. Lilith raised her hand nervously to grab our attention.

"T-Then, what will I do?"

"Lilith, I'll have you- On second thought nevermind…"

"What?! Zach you can't be serious! I'm getting the feeling there is some tension around you two, but have some faith in her! She can't be that bad!"

Hahahaha, you have no idea Alice… But she's right, I have to have some faith even for her skill. There's no way she of all people can mess up this.

"Alright, fine. For all that it's worth not even Lilith can mess this up. Lilith please don't."

"I won't!"

Okay then. After a few minutes of watching and planning, we initiated it into action. In the center of the deer landed an arrow of flame accompanied with a small explosion upon its landing. The deer turned heads and were startled, soon more flaming arrows descended them sending them into disarray. Frightened by this sudden ambush they hightailed and scattered in all directions.

All of them ran at full speed leaving the area desolate, well almost desolate. Staying behind them were a few males and the Elk standing tall and brave.

The plan worked perfectly. Now all we have to do is pick of these guys.

"Zach your plan worked!"

Lilith's rejoice signaled the deer and alerted them even more now knowing our presence they began to pose their defensive stance while making threatening sounds in our direction.

Well, almost perfectly…

"Dammit Lilith."

"I-Im sorry!"

"Its okay, you did great with that pre-fire, plus it doesn't really interfere with our plan anyway."

She's right, lets keep going then...

"We're all ready I suppose? Alice on your mark."

"Mm! Here I go!"

Alice quickly grabs an arrow out of her shed and fires it at one of the males on the breast. The others began to charge in our direction with their horns facing front. However in quick succession, more arrows came flying out from her bow puncturing different vital parts from their knees to their heads, stopping them in their tracks and fell to the ground. Mine and Lilith's eyes widened in astonishment. The deer aren't dead but she took them all down with only an arrow each, I mean I knew she was good with her bow from the first time we met, but I didn't think she would be this good!

The Elk however though continued its merciless charge in high speed towards us.

"Everyone out of the way!"

All of us immediately ran out of our position and avoided the four piercing horns of the Elk.

When the Elk stopped its movements to turn around. Only Lilith was standing there. Her expression confused wondering what to do next. We were supposed to spread out and hide, but it seems Lilith didn't catch on to that detail. The Elk then locked on to Lilith and quickly instigated its charge.

"Lilith! Get out of there!"

"Eh?"

Alice shouted, but it was a bit too late. She was as always paralyzed in the face of the slightest danger. As the elk continues to charge she stands without a clue in the world what to do next, but managed to utter her most common chant.

"F-Flame magic Arrow!"

Her burning arrow forms in the air and is launched, but doesn't carry the usual speed it has when she is more focused and misses the elk by a small margin.

Alice watched her worried, her eyes then pointed to me. Though I didn't notice what she was trying to tell me, all my thoughts were focused on the Elk charging at Lilith. When it was close enough, I bursted out of the foliage and tossed one of my bolases at its hind legs making it fall on its underside in a streamlined position.

"Lilith! Dodge it now!"

She jumps to the right just avoiding the deer's body. Upon seeing this chance, Alice took it upon herself to add a few extra arrows into the elk to prevent it from moving. The elk gave an outburst of pain and still struggling lost some of its strength.

"Lilith are you alright?!"

"Y-Yes I am fine."

"Zach what was that?! You didn't seem like the slightest bit worried about her!"

It took me a few seconds before I responded with a narrow gaze.

"It was her fault for not listening, predicting this might happen especially in a time like this, I merely compensated for her incompetence of the situation."

I said walking towards the downed Elk while trying to keep up the conversation.

"But you should at least have told her to move! What if she could've gotten hurt?!"

"She wouldn't."

"Why's that?!"

"Because I'm here. I make it a point that when I'm partnering up with someone that I would do my best to have all who I am with including myself leave alive. Believe me when I say this."

Once I said that as my sword pierced into the Elk's neck.

"I get the feeling you have seen this numerous times, is she really always like this?"

"Since I've been with her, yes."

"I can see now why you're so troubled whenever I'm asking about her, but she can't be that bad."

"Those are some famous last words you are reciting. I said the same thing."

"Hmph, Don't worry Lilith, I believe you'll do better!"

"I-I promise I will!"

More famous last words huh? Well it shouldn't be too much of a bother for today.

As the day went by we continued to go through our everyday motions along with us hunting more beasts. And as I suspected I had an easier time today with Alice around. Her dependable side is really brimming here together with her bow. Though after today I doubt I could have a break such as this not after a long while. Speaking of Alice, she's catching onto Lilith's skills and though noticing them and trying to give her some tips, it seems that she is holding back her frustrations with her…

"Lilith, a girl as cute as you might not be cut out for this…"

"Ah! Alice! Please don't lose hope yet!"

"I warned you."

"Yeah, thanks for reminding me… I didn't think she would actually be this bad. You on the other hand, I gotta say though, you're really experienced handling a sword, along with being smart and resourceful. I'm starting to get really curious now for a person I stumbled across in these woods."

Is that so? I'm sure I only have Level 3 swordsmanship. Well maybe I need to check again, I got pretty annoyed with the popups and found a switch in the options to turn them off.

"My mouth is sealed. I have to say the same for you, you use a bow quite well."

"Thanks, I practice using it a lot since I was a kid."

She abruptly changed the subject.

"So, for all that you're worth, why are you with this girl ?"

"Well…"

"Don't tell me you actually…"

"Can you stop with those! I swear on my dear life that I did not let her join because of her body!"

"Fufufu...Then why?"

"Its well…"

Before I could speak, Lilith spotted something out of the ordinary in the distance.

"Hey what's that?"

She said pointing to it. We got a closer look, it was a deer slowly bleeding.

"A deer, probably from the ones that ran away earlier."

"Its dying though, what could have done this?"

"There's no saving it, not in this state. I think the best we could do put it out of its misery."

"I'll be the one then."

I then came closer to it and plunged it in its flesh giving a swift mercy kill. I looked and examined to wounds further.

That's weird. These wounds are of many varieties, some are slashes, a couple of bruises and other open wounds and each different in their own way. What's more these wounds are slightly clean… too clean for any beast in this area. So what could have…

Wait-! This is!

Out of nowhere a group of goblins appeared surrounding us. It seems we were being stalked, but, this is the safe zone. Why would they be here?! It doesn't matter, let's just get out of this first.

"A trap!"

"What the! Goblins?!"

"Eek!"

They must have been using the deer as a bait for an easy kill. I scanned the group and saw 3 with better equipment than the rest. No wonder, 3 platoon leaders, that's why they were so smart. So how should we deal with them?

"There's 15 of them. 3 platoon leaders. That's my headcount, there may be more hiding though."

"No there's only 3 of us, if there were more of them than the current number, they wouldn't be afraid to show them."

"You're right. So any plans?"

"W-What should we do?!"

"I'll of course be the vanguard, both of you please clear away the ones in front of you first especially the ones with better gear, I'll draw all the ones on this side to give you some time. Alice, please support Lilith, Lilith stay in between us and keep shooting out spells, try to control your magic. Once you're finished please support me and follow my lead."

"Got it!"

"Y-Yes!

I stretched out my arm and made a hand gesture with the message come at me, along with my sharp gaze, even they should be able to understand. In the next second their shouts retaliated in response and soon all of them were running with weapons raised.

"GRAAH!"

"GROAEAA!

Yup they got the message alright. There were

The two behind me began attacking as well, arrows came flying from Alice's bow and the sound of small fiery explosions erupted from Lilith's staff.

I placed my backpack down and began taking aim using my bolases. I was only able to throw two at best before they reached me. Cutting down the first one that came at me with a single strike and a second with continuous momentum, but was sword locked by the third. It had better equipment…

Platoon leader, shit!

It issued orders to the ones behind it. And quickly went to untying their allies from my bolases. I looked again at my opponent. Both of us waiting to get the upper hand somehow. In that moment, I kicked the foot he put in front of him causing it to lose balance. It looked back up at me as I slit his throat with my sword.

Making my way towards them, their mouths twisted into a smile and swiftly past me. Confused of their movements I widen my eyes.

"ZACH! They're going for Lilith!"

I turned my head behind me. Alice was fending of just fine while keeping her distance, but looking at Lilith behind her was on her knees breathing heavily. She's fatigued! Now I understood what they were going for, Lilith!

As expected goblins really are more organized with a leader around, but this is no time for me to be impressed!

Dammit I have to save her again in a time like this!

Alice begins shooting down a few of them, but only slowing them down. But that gave me enough time to catch up to them. Once I was near enough I jumped twisting my body so that I would end up facing them.

Tsk! Dammit why do I have to keep saving you!

"Alice! Run!"

"What?! But what about-!"

I pointed a sharp gaze at her and said no other word and ran. Lilith, still fatigued and tired from her magic exhaustion looked to me with a frightened look.

"Lilith duck!"

They then came at me, starting from the nearest to us, I parry its sword and kick it away to address two others. I parry one of their weapons, but another goblin's thrust brushed against my torso creating a cut, feeling the pain I swing my sword in exchange slicing its face. They came at me almost like in waves each of them slowly withering away my stamina points and a good chunk of my hit points, probably commands from their leaders, all the while keeping them away from Lilith and me.

I was breathing heavily with my sword barely holding it up. I had lacerations all over my torso, well my bad for not wearing a breastplate or a tunic, I've got save up for a full suit soon, but that can come later if I can survive this.

Seeing my exhausted state along with Lilith still in hers, they smiled and sneered before long taking their opportunity.

I looked at Lilith, magic levels unfocused making her unable to cast magic. She could only hope close her eyes shivering in fear.

"Tsk!" I clicked my tongue, before looking back at my enemy. I'm not done yet!

I wrapped my hands around my sword, adjusting my timing of my strike and when they met the minimum reach of my sword I executed [Round Accel] with my sword swinging in a full arc like a baseball bat.

Depending on where they were the goblins were hit in different places, but what appeared on each of them was a red horizontal line on their bodies. Many of them were knocked back while others fell down due to slice, but some were still coming at me!

One of the goblins made an aerial attack out of my line of sight to Lilith. I quickly turned my body and stopped its blade with my leather vanguard using it like shield. Luckily the weapon wasn't made of metal, otherwise it would have had a higher chance of cutting through the leather. I whacked it away and landing on his feet. At that point I felt their eyes all focused on me, seems I was successful on taking away the agrro from Lilith.

There's still 4 of them 2 of them were platoon leaders and other two were normal goblins, with 2 incapacitated members caught by my bolases, 9 of them dead or heavily injured with us with one downed member, without Alice in sight, and me with about 80% of my SP gone from that overexerted arc along with 30% of my HP gone. It seemed that it was inevitable for the goblins to take the victory.

However…

"GRAAAH!"

"GRRAAACOA!"

"GRAAHAAAC!"

As they all shouted in preparation for their attack. Arrows came flying just seconds later out of the bushes. Alice then came out of the bushes with arrows cocked into her bow. I smiled in satisfaction, the strategy came out perfectly.

As the few straggling members of the troupe struggled to get away me and Alice made the final blows on each one of them.

The three of us then grouped up in the middle amongst the corpses of the dead goblins.

"That was a hard fought battle…"

"Well it would have been worse, if you weren't around though."

"The look on your face didn't match the command so I knew it had to mean "ambush" them right?"

"You understood completely, I really have to upgrade my understanding of reliability when it comes to you."

"Hahaha, any time Zach"

Alice then turned to Lilith.

"Hey, Lilith. Are you alright? Do you need some water?"

"Ah, um, no. I'm alright."

She sighs...

Then returns to me.

"Zach…. I think I understand now why you looked like you've ran through a mill, it really is because of Lilith right?"

I sighed…

"Yeah, she's practically useless…

"So why are you even still with her?"

I forced the words out of my mouth now being put in a corner.

"I made a deal with her to teach her way around the forest until she could at least sustain herself, but I can't tell anymore if I can continue trying to teach her."

"I see, so that's the situation. Why are you still trying then? In fact why'd you accept her request in the first place."

"If I didn't it would be abandoning her right? Her eyes, were different from all those who asked me at the start, she was desperate too, so I thought I'd take a shot. "Shouldn't be too hard" I say to myself at times, but it is for her."

She paused and watched as I sighed and took one more glance at Lilith.

"In my opinion, I think you should stop. I know its a bit shameless that you'd back out of your own deal and your purposes for letting her join are noble, but just about anyone can see it. You're skilled Zach, you are only being held back because of her, and you shouldn't pursue a task you know is fruitless, you have to understand your limit. Lilith isn't a bad person, but how far are you willing to go as an adventurer? Otherwise, you could die a lot sooner than you think, trust me on this, I know how it feels."

Some time later we were back at the city.

"Thanks for partnering up with us today."

"No, I had a good time being able to talk to the two of you, and got a great payday! The others are going to be so surprised when they know how much I'm bringing back!

"Hahahaha"

"Thanks for taking care of me today, think about what I said Zach. I'll leave it up to you to make your decision."

"I'm sorry, I got in the way again. I-I promise! I-I'll do better!"

"It's alright."

"Okay! I-I'll be going now, s-see you tomorrow!"

Both of us waved as we separated paths. Then a dark cloud rested atop my head...

What Alice said is right… but can I really just give up on her?

END OF UPDATE


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

I am so sorry!"

"It's fine…"

I say that with a wounded body, from scratches a few shallow bite marks and a couple of bruises all around. And Lilith, barely any injuries noticeable but some dirt staining her robe. I didn't lose to much HP and luckily I bought healing supplies, but my god is Lilith frustrating to work with…!

A few days have past since I've partnered up with Lilith. We took on a lot of beasts and monsters, however... The problem was that I had to handle almost every one of them on my own! Through them I came to be able to understand her more for me ways on how to advise her. Easily Frightened, No control, Easily distracted, clueless, It would seem that I'm tolerating her ignorance well… however I am at my breaking point. If it was any other person I would have probably snapped a lot earlier.

It's starting to get late, finally I can get this day over with!

"GROWL!"

We turn to hear a growling sound just near us and out of the forest green charges a large beast with its jaws right open.

"MOVE!"

"Kya!"

I pushed Lilith out of the way and made hasty dodge to escape its line of attack. It stopped just about a few meters away from us.

The beast had the appearance of an large with the difference protruding its jaws and paws, two pairs of large fangs and claws the size of steak knives. It was a Fang Bear, Iron C Rank on the Beast charts.

"A Fang Bear!"

This is the first one I've seen so I have no real hand experience fighting this one, though I've read that they're strength is not to be taken lightly making it's natural born weapons even more deadly. However due to its large size it can't move very quickly and must rely on ambush tactics to get the jump on its prey. Very aggressive and pretty durable to most attacks it's been reported that it usually takes a squad of 3-5 men to subdue one, even bronze ranked adventurer's have trouble taking one on by themselves.

I'd love to take it on, however this time I'm not the only one who's at stake.

"W-What should we do?!"

"Hold on, gimme a second."

I brought out one of the bolases from my backpack and preparing my arm for the throw

The bear made a straightforward charge again.

I grabbed it from the gathering point of the ropes and twirled it around above my head, after two spins I launched it towards the bear's front legs. The Bolas's ropes quickly wrapped around the bear's front legs causing it to lose balance and with its built up momentum tumble and fall forward.

"We run! C'mon!"

I grab Lilith's arm and both of us ran.

It ripped through the bolas's ropes in no time and resumed to chasing after us. It was only made of some grass and heavy stones it's not a surprise that a creature that large would break through them, but it still bought us some time to get away. After a while of running I turned back to see if it was still chasing us. It was nowhere in sight…

"I think we lost it…"

I felt a pair of eyes stalking us and in the next second a pair of huge jaws appeared wide open ready to rip me to pieces. It was the Fang Bear. I pulled Lilith's arm towards me just missing the bear's long canines. The bear skid across the ground and turned back to us with its mouth salivating.

"Tsk! I guess it has no means of stopping, we have to fight! Lilith stay behind me and start chanting while I keep it busy!"

"Y-Yes!"

I drop my pack and grabbed a rock from the ground and threw it at the bear focusing its attention on me and not on Lilith. Its head turned to me and growled in aggravation.

"That's it, right here!"

I pulled my sword out and immediately formed my stance. It then stood on its hind legs towering above me with its sights set on ripping me apart. It's sharp paw came hurling towards me. I tried to parry it, but my sword was easily pushed aside losing my balance. The other paw came to slam down, I leapt back to escape.

That was close! Damn! It's too strong for me to block or parry, all I can do is dodge and aim for its blind spots on the its hind. Another paw came swinging at me, I executed a roll and got under the bear's arm and made an upward slash to its abdomen and continued slash at it while I can.

"ROAR!"

It roared in pain and reflexively did a backhand swipe with its claw, I dodged though I didn't see the other coming the same way. I instantly placed up my sword to block the impact. The bear's claws came into contact with my sword and slapped it out of my grip like a stick along with my balance, causing me to fall over.

The bear quickly came on top of me to take advantage and raised both its paws to slam down. I rolled sideways avoiding it, picked up my sword and hopped back to make some distance.

They weren't kidding when they ranked this guy Iron Class for its strength and durability, I can barely hold myself up to its attacks. Wait where's Lilith?!

I looked back at her position worried and confused. She was standing there frozen, shaking with a wide-eyed gaze as if lost. I felt her magic levels are unstable, does that mean she can't use her magic? I'll deal with her later, right now I have to focus on the bear in front of me!

The second I said that the bear's claws came swinging at me. The bear continued to swing in all sorts of way attempting to rip me to pieces. I avoided every one of them whilst trying to damage it.

3-4 second attack intervals, 7-9 second attacks, slow, but if any one of those attacks hit me head on it'll be bad news for me! It's not backing down either even from all the attacks I've given it, at this rate I'll tire out first!

I need something to turn the tide...Wait! Lilith! If she were to fire her magic to I doubt it would be unscathced. I gotta wake her up!

The bear then roars at me with its arms wide open.

"ROOAAARRR!"

That's my chance!

I rushed towards it executing a sword technique [Spiral Slash]. My body aimed low and twisted 360 degrees while keeping my momentum and made a slash towards its legs. The Bear tried to attack me, but it was too slow and toppled over.

I quickly climbed onto its back sheathed my sword and brought out one of my makeshift knives Once I was on it I began using all my strength to hammer my my knife into the the Bear's thick hide.

"ROOAAR!

It roared in pain as I continue to pierce its back. The bear tried its best to shake me of, my body is flung around and I struggle to hold on. My hands grip tightly onto the bear's fur in my best attempts to stay on to continue stabbing it.

I can't keep this up forever!

I look towards Lilith still phase locked. This is our only opportunity if we were to make it out here alive! I need to wake her up now!

Still stabbing the bear I gave a shout towards Lilith...

"Lilith! SNAP OUT OF IT!"

"Eh?! W-What's going on?!"

"Lilith focus! Chant now! I won't be able to hold up much longer!"

She gave secure look. Her magic levels began to stabilize and her magic was beginning to gather again.

"Fire that blazes within me, become a bolt which to strike my enemy, Firebolt!"

A burst of fiery flame came flying from her direction. I stabbed the bear at its far sides to change its direction making it face the bolt just in time. The bolt made contact with the bear's front side and a blast of heat began to burn the bear's underside.

"RROOAAAARR!"

A loud roar burst from it, but even with that it still had the will to fight. According to Lilith it's just a low ranking spell but still nonetheless powerful in its own right especially with Lilith's magic instability, just what kind of durability does it even have to withstand that?!

The bear's paws then reached for me and forcefully pulled me off tossing me away from it. I rolled on the ground a couple of times but after the bear advanced forward used its head to lift me throw me with great force. The force from the bear's attack launched me to a nearby tree hitting its trunk on my back.

"Zach!"

"GAH!"

That stings… My HP is a bit over half way… still manageable for me, but my stamina isn't looking too hot, I can't put up another long fight like that. "

I breathed heavily as I watched the bear turn its sights to us salivating on the sights of a secure kill. However it turned its sights towards its next target Lilith.

It began to charge forward, Lilith stood frozen yet again. What is she doing?! Run! Cast a spell! Do anything but stay there!

Grrr….!

There's no way I would be able to cut through that bulk to do any significant damage once I get there!

Unless… I opened my stat menu in a hurry and shoved 5 attribute points into my strength stat.

I got myself back up ignoring all pain I was feeling and unsheathed my sword running towards Lilith's position. I got their before it did readying myself with Lilith behind me and pushed her aside away from my position.. The bear hastily shortening the distance, I also advanced towards it. Just a few feet away from it, the bear jumped and lunged its huge body with its weapons open.

In the last second before it's jaw's reached me I kneeled on one leg executing an overhead slash using its force and acceleration to slice through the bear's seared belly, but breaking apart a large portion of the blade. The bear's body realizing what had happened lost all sense of balance like a ragdoll lost control of its momentum. It's body rolled a few times before it came to a stop. It tried to use its strength to get back up, but the wound on its abdomen was far too great, it roared in agony as its blood and guts burst from its opening.

I slowly walked towards it, its expression scared and afraid. I felt sorry for it… it was only acting on instinct after all, but what choice did I have? I looked upon it with a saddened gaze, reared my sword and stabbed it deep into its neck.

I then turned my gaze towards the girl standing with a scared expression looking downwards. I slowly paced myself towards her. As soon as I reached her she looked at me with confused eyes to see my expression.

"Zach I… "

"Not a word not until we get back to the city."

Her expression, wide eyed momentarily and turned to shame and dipped her head down.

"Y-Yes… "

I got myself patched up with the healing supplies I brought with me, though I should go to the hospital when we get back just to be sure. I think I'm going to take a break to let these injuries heal. Other than that we weren't able to salvage much of the corpse, because neither of us had enough experience harvesting, the only thing we harvested was one of its long fangs as proof.

We got back to the guild, we were ordered to give a full report of our day and the battle with the bear. I gave most of the info in that meeting, Lilith ever since we fought the bear had a gloomy expression, probably still thinking about the whole battle. The guild recommended that I stay away from the battlefield for some time, in that time me and Lilith haven't spoke a word to each other even if we saw each other walking on the street.

I woke up one day feeling stings all over my body.

"Crap… Ouch…"

Looks like the pain is still here. I've been decommissioned for the time being because of them. Sigh… Well just because I don't have any work doesn't mean I should sit still for the rest of the day. Let's take a walk around town, sure as hell be better than staying in.

I said got some stuff and left.

I walked around watching as the townsfolk did their everyday activities, but soon found myself in front of the guild…

I guess it felt like second nature for me to come here even on a rest day… Well I'm already here, might as well take a quick look on how things are going.

I pushed open the doors and casually walked in. The eyes of many soon spotted me as I walked through, only silence greeted my presence, until…

"Haha! Look at this pisspot! Going toe to toe with a Fangbear and already comin back to work? You tired of living?"

"Seems to me you're half dead already!"

"Fuck off ya weakling!"

It was Gregory and his drunkard friends. As per usual. Ignoring their jeers I scanned the area. Hm… She's not here… Why am I thinking about her? Was I expecting her to be here? I just can't stop thinking about her with what just happened, I've only saw glimpses on her passing through the street, but whenever I did I avoided her. What's wrong with me? I'm not usually like this.

But whatever, I guess since nothing interests me I should be on my… way? I didn't notice Gregory standing right infront of me.

"Hey! You listening!?"

God what's with this man? I've got no time for you.

"Oh. I'm sorry, why don't you go piss off behind a bar somewhere."

"Insolent little! Don't think just because you are injured I won't attack you-"

He was about to finish his sentence, but in the next second another person took his place and made him fall off his feet. Everyone turned heads to the almost fainted Gregory and began laughing their asses off. His friends immediately got up to help him, but it seemed he was out cold. After that the guild went back to its original state. I immediately turned back to find a familiar face in front me.

"ZAAACH!"

It was Stella, my assigned receptionist. She exclaimed my name and in surprise and hugged me.

"S-Stella!"

My face slowly grew red as she embraced me. Onlookers were already getting giving me sharp glares. I wanted to shout "I don't know what's happening" but not before Stella began to speak.

"I haven't seen you for so long! How have you been?! I heard what happened! Are you alright?"

"I would be even more, please don't hold me so tightly. What's gotten into you?"

"I-I'm sorry! I was just a bit worried is all, you are my first real assigned adventurer and after I heard what happened I thought my heart stopped. Come, you can tell me all about what happened in the last few days."

"Haha, I'm flattered. But don't you have work to do?"

"This is technically work, after all you are my responsibility."

"Alright then. I guess I might as well."

We headed to a small table in the guild and chatted there.

"Wow, you've had quite the time while I was away, shame I couldn't have seen the girl who did this to you, otherwise she wouldn't be a problem anymore for you."

"She wasn't the one who did this, but in a way yes. But I guess we both intend to avoid each other for the time being."

I then began to rant about her for the next few minutes.

"She's so useless, I'd feel sorry for anyone else who took her as a party member…"

"If you'd like I'd be willing to talk some sense into her to make her leave. As your caretaker I can do that."

"When you see her please do."

"But is she really that bad?"

I gave a slight pause, and gave her the same response I gave to Alice when she asked.

"No… she isn't. As an adventurer maybe, but not as a person."

"Could you tell me more about that?"

"What are you? A guidance counselor?"

"As apart of my job, yes I am."

I saw glints and imaginary glasses on her eyes...

"Ugh, that's troubling. Anyway, even if you are, I'm not saying it."

"Fine, then tell me one thing you like about her. C'mon I won't say, unless its her bo-"

"Stop it with that! No its not! Why does everyone say I'm after her for that!"

I gave a frustrated noise beneath my breath and brought out my words.

Sigh… well if I were to say, the pure smile she gives off is one that perks up mine as well…"

"Oooh. Tell me more."

"Forget it, that's all you are getting out me."

"Fufu. Well if you are not willing to tell me about it, best you tell her the rest of what you really think yourself and take responsibility for her and that deal you made."

"Yeah I know. I should get going, we've chatted long enough. Thanks by the way, I needed a talk like this."

"Mm! Happy to help! See ya next time!"

We exchanged goodbyes and I soon left the guild, heading back to me inn.

When a few days past and my injuries healed with support from the guild, I was back on my feet ready to get back to work….

I left the inn as usual together with my usual gear and headed to guild as apart of my usual routine.

I was in front of the guild and walked through its doors just as I normally do. My thoughts stopped the second I saw my er… partner sitting at one of the table. She had the same face every time I would see her.

I immediately hid myself away from her sight…

Tsk! She's here… she looks as though she is waiting for something, me? This is kind of awkward...

I haven't talked to her ever since the battle, does she really feel that bad about it? Sigh… What am I going to do? It's obvious, she's talented I'm actually impressed about many things about her. But even with that she is not ready for this job. Hrrmm what should I do…

I remembered the advice from my two acquaintances. I sighed in defeat. I guess I should just give her a straight answer about our deal, for both our sakes.

I swallowed my fear and walked towards her, her face lit up for a second, but returned to its original state. When she turned back to me I was already standing in front of her. I could see her trying to hide herself from my gaze.

"I.."

But before she could speak, I took her arm and pulled her away from her seat leading her out of the guild. Her look changed from sorry to surprised in seconds.

"Z-Zach?"

"Just come with me."

I took her to a back alley away from anyone. After checking if the coast was clear I let go of her arm.

"Sorry, I can't focus on you with everyone looking at us back there."

"N-No! Its fine!"

We looked at each other for a few seconds, both of us without after a moment of silence I spoke out.

"It's about our deal…"

I was about to say something to her, but Lilith beat me to it.

"B-Before you say anything! P-Please let me speak!"

Surprised, I gave a nod to her to start. She took a deep breath and made a deep bow with her left hand positioned on her heart and poured her thoughts out.

"I-I'm sorry! I can't thank you enough for everything you've done for me until this point! I know that I am weak, that I'm an idiot and that I'm just a hindrance to you, and I know that no amount of sorries can ever hope for you to ever forgive me. So before you say anything else, I want you to know that I'll improve with all I've got so that next time I can fight with you!"

I was speechless… I didn't know what to say… the only sound that came out of my mouth was…

"Pfft! Hahahaha!"

Confused Lilith had no idea what tod do next.

"W-Wha?! Why are you laughing?!"

"No, its just that, it surprised me that you were able to make a serious face for once. I couldn't help but laugh."

"Muu! Return my words back to me!"

She exclaimed to me frustrated.

"Okay, Okay, I'll stop. Now it's my turn. About our deal."

She stood holding her staff tightly to her chest and steeled herself for whatever answer I would give. I contemplated upon my decision. I gave a slight smile and said the words in my mind: Maybe, just maybe

"I cannot continue our agreement."

Her eyes downcasted themselves upon my answer, but…

"Would have been my first answer, if you hadn't said any of what you said before I spoke."

Her eyes looked up confused.

"B-But! All I've been is extra baggage! Why did you?"

"I can't deny that, but do you know what I really think? About your skill?"

"About my skill…?"

She stood silent. I took a breath before I spoke…

"As much as you would want to think that I label you as useless. I don't think you are totally useless. Even though you have your drawbacks, you're talented, strong, determined, and smart. Smarter than the rest if I must say, you were smart enough to ask for help-"

"S-Smart?! B-But, everyone else asked you for help and you rejected all of them, so why did you accept my request?"

"Let me finish."

"Sorry…"

This girl… Holding back my frustrations I continue.

"I called you smart because you understand yourself well. Most of the other newbies, I can see it. They've battled against death and nearly fell to it, but despite knowing their own limits they continue to proceed as they are with their pride waved in the air that they've survived, its disheartening. But you were smart and brave enough to ask anyway.

"But weren't there others who were the same as me? I've seen a couple begging almost the same as I did when after we first met. Why did you accept me?"

"The air around you, was different. Different in the way that you didn't want to take advantage of me, betray me, or blame me for anything I taught you if that ever happened. I couldn't trust them. From you, I didn't feel any of that. From what I've seen it's probably because of your clueless attitude that allowed me to trust you."

She stayed silent but had no idea how to respond to my comment, whether she was to respond in frustration or relief, but an expression that formed on her face was delight.

"S-So will you keep being my partner until the end of our deal?"

"If you are willing to "Give your all to improve." then, yes."

"I promise to live up to them this time!"

"I'm sure you will. However… I have to admit, you are a pain to be working with, so I expect something else."

"I-I don't really have money to give! Maybe you can deduct some from our earnings? Or maybe I can pay you some other time, or maybe I can pay with my bo-"

I quickly stopped her train of thought before mentioning that final one.

"N-No! You don't need to do any of that! As always so quick to make misunderstood decisions. And again let me finish!"

"Then, what will you have me do?"

Question marks stemming atop her head. I said with a straight face my request.

"I want you to teach me magic."

"Eh?"

Even more question marks stemmed on her head. I continued to elaborate why.

"I want to learn magic, it seems interesting most especially to advance my abilities of course."

Though the question marks didn't stop, she shook her head a few times to get back to me.

"I'm not confident, but I'll teach you what I know!"

"Thanks."

With a hesitant voice she asked...

"T-Then can we start over? With an introduction?"

"Sure, if it'll make you feel better."

She smiled and took a deep breath before speaking.

"Ahem. My name is Lilith Arde, I'm a two star fire mage from (ADD NAME OF SCHOOL) that recently just moved to this city and a newbie adventurer at Copper D rank. I'm currently adventuring for the sake of my family. I know I might not be the best, but I'll be sure to try."

There was a pause after she spoke...

"Hey, it's your turn now."

"Did you really expect me to tell you?"

Her eyes widened and her face began to flare.

"WHAT?! THAT IS NOT FAIR! I thought you said you trusted me?!"

"I trust you enough to uphold our new deal, that doesn't mean I have to tell you more about myself than you already know."

"Still you tricked me!"

"Is that so unusual? You have to learn to be a bit more secretive in this world. Well maybe you are, since I didn't really learn anything new about you."

"Y-You! Grr!"

I thought she would be frustrated… sigh… well… I took a breath.

She really is interested to know who I am, I'm sure she already knows my fake background is already getting suspicious, I can't really say anything to her that could jeopardize me and my current situation. Well, I can't really say nothing to her after her performance, so she at least deserves some merit for that. I took a breath before letting the words fly out of my mouth.

"I won't say anything about my background, but I'll at least say this though. I'm not really confident about my ability to teach you anything, but if you are willing to go that far just to be taught by me then I'll try my best to offer everything to you until our time together is up."

"Zach…"

She looked at me with soft eyes. My face began to heat up so turned away immediately.

"A-Anyway, now that we've patched things up, I'm pumped to get back to work. C'mon Lilith, don't lag behind!"

"H-Hey! We are not done with this! G-Get back here you- Muuu! Zach!"

And with that both of us became a party again, this time I'm sure things will go differently…

END OF UPDATE


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

And so, we started adventuring again. This time I made it a point for me to make Lilith as capable as an average adventurer can be and made exercises to train her as a mage. Of course, I wouldn't know how to do that, so we visited a local magic shop in the city asking for some advice.

Afterwards I went to devising training methods for Lilith…

"Um, Zach why did you build a campfire?"

"Its for your training of course, taking our advice from the magic shop owner as to what to focus on, power and supply are not included among them. Your problem is that you couldn't control your magic levels, making endurance and control your main adversaries on the field."

"I understand, but how is a campfire going to help me in those areas?"

"Use your magic to ignite it."

"Ok!"

She held out her pointer finger and a small flame appeared at her tip. Like a lighter she used it and ignited the campfire. However everytime she did ignite the campfire the small flame disappeared in a matter of seconds.

"Zach! What is wrong with this campfire?! Is this a campfire cursed not to burn?"

"No, look closely."

She turned her head closer and noticed the leaves were glistening and the wood darker than their usual color, touching it she finally noticed what was wrong, it was moist.

"H-How am I supposed to light a wet campfire?"

"There's a small spot in the middle of it all with dry and fresh firewood and leaves, light that part."

She did as was told and lit the center of the flame.

"Good, knowing the state of the campfire, that small flame is not going to last long by regular circumstances and will soon disappear again like before. That is unless you hold it there. This acts like the magic core the magic shopkeep owner used to measure your magic, in structure, the core is the campfire, the fuel is what the magic core is made of to synergize with magic, and the fire is the light that appears when it reacts to magic. I would have loved to obtain a similar magic core for you to practice on, but considering the price, there was no way we were ever getting it. Now what I want you do is to hold the flame there until all its fuel is gone."

"Hmph! That's easy!"

She held both her hands out. Her magic levels were clear as was her face brimming with confidence. Soon the flame grew bigger and the heat became stronger, soon enough the wet leaves and wood were nothing but a small inconvenience as the fire evaporated their moisture and began using them as fuel. After a few minutes the roaring flame had consumed all its fuel and died out.

With confidence she looked to me triumphant…

"I told you that was-"

Her sentence was cut short from a sudden loss of strength in her legs and was fatigued. The mana I sensed around her had been almost depleted.

"You waste too much energy on holding together a simple fire, though you did it quickly, your magic supply is left at almost zero. Putting it into a real life situation, you could finish of an enemy quickly or heavily damage them, but don't have enough to protect yourself in a large group or from external forces. That is a fatal error."

"T-Then what should I do?"

"Keep the fire low, do not overstep your bounds, it will give you time to regenerate your supply. Do not leave this spot or lose control until the fuel is gone. When you are finished resting please try again."

"Y-Yes! But, what will you be doing?"

I pointed to what looked like a naked scarecrow made of hay.

"I'll be training with this dummy there, while I monitor your magic levels."

"Eh?! You can monitor my magic levels?!"

"Oh right, I didn't tell you. I have an inborn ability to sense magic."

"Ah! So that's why you wanted me to teach you magic! I didn't know you had the gift!"

"Alright, we can talk about this later. Could you please start training?"

"R-Right! Sorry!"

Lilith continued to go on trying again and again, each time was different in terms of duration and outcome. It would sometimes last a few minutes before the flame grew too large or until her flame dwindled, either result required her to start again. As she trained herself I wasted no time either swinging my sword at my dummy.

I took a short break and looked back at Lilith still trying with her hands out. Out of curiosity I picked up a rock and threw it at the tree just near her.

*TOCK*

"AH!"

She shrieked turning heads until she found me.

"W-What was that?!"

"Ah, your magic levels fluctuate."

"What was that for!"

"No, don't mind it. Please continue."

"Hrrmmm..."

That was an expected reaction… maybe I can use this...

After a couple of hours. I decided it was time for us to do our jobs. As usual we would take some simple quests and venture into the forest.

We found medium sized targets, a group of boars feeding amongst the foliage. Hiding in the bushes I told her our plan.

"You'll be the one taking them on. Watch you're reserve and keep focused, kill most of them ,all of them if u can. If anything goes wrong I'll handle the rest. Can you do that?"

"Y-Yes! I'll do my best!

I hope you do.

I give her a gentle smile to ease the tension and soon left to watch at my position.

She began chanting her commonly used spell: Flame Magic Arrow.

The arrows began exploding in a fiery display, after a few minutes…

"Zach! Help meee!"

She lost all her mana…

Sigh, here we go again. In the next moment I looked back at her she was running to my position with the boars right behind her.

"ZAACCH!"

"Wait! Don't run in my direction!"

"Sorry!"

We continued this sort of schedule for 20 days. It was a long 20 days… In terms of results, I'd say we earned a fair bit. I didn't really earn any points for my stats, but my techniques were showing more promise. But on the other hand, I'd say Lilith was the one with the most improvement...

It was another day, going through the motions of our schedule, and it was that time of the day again…

"Alright, today we have a couple of wolves as our targets. Be more cautious, this time around. Same plan as always."

"Mmm! Got it!"

"Okay. Go for it!"

She concentrated herself and lighted a flaming arrow resting in midair atop her shoulder. Consecutive explosions rang across the area injuring 2 wolves sending them into a panic. Others weren't as unlucky to be caught in the flames and found Lilith in their sights. They pounced one after another towards her position. In this sort of situation Lilith would usually become frightened and her magic levels would desynchronize and leave her open.

However, her eyes didn't show that today, her eyes were confident and filled with strength, she was reading there movements, a skill I intended for her to develop using this daily exercise. What's more is that her magic levels are still stabilized up until this point which is great improvement on her part. I continued to watch her progress from my position.

She fired another shot at one of the wolves stopping it in its tracks and began to burn. One of the wolves was destined to clamp its jaws on Lilith's body, but reacting quick enough she turned her body to the side just missing the fangs of the beast, but unintentionally falling down.

It was beginning to look bad, but her magic levels didn't let up. As the wolf tried to get on top of her, another arrow was pointed towards it, more precise, limiting its destruction in close range making a short distraction, giving her just enough time to get on her feet and make some distance to launch another flaming arrow making it stay on the ground.

As soon as the battle was over, she panted heavily to regain her lost strength.

"Ha..Ha.. Ha.."

She turned to me with a smile seeking my approval. Instead I was ready with my sling vertically swinging it at my side.

Confused she was about to ask why, but was interrupted by a sudden chill and immediately turned around.

"Growl!"

The burned up wolf spread its jaws to make a last ditch attack on Lilith. The sudden scene left her motionless for that moment and realized that she was about to die, or at least get a few scars.

Well that might have happened, if I wasn't there.

I threw my sling with a stone already cocked, and made a direct hit on the wolf's head sending it back to the ground.

In that moment, Lilith looked back at the wolf and launched another flaming arrow at the still breathing wolf.

The wolf yelped and took its final breath before laying its body to rest.

I began walking to her, she had her eyes pressed together expecting my usual sermon. But I instead placed my hand on her head and gently rubbed it.

"Good work. You made great improvement."

Her eyes glistened with comfort and relief as she looked at me and gave her whole hearted thanks.

"Thank you!"

I then began giving a full diagnosis on her performance.

"It seems you're not as frightened by these sorts of small reactions, your mana concentration held out longer than it usually does especially in an uptight battle along with the fact that you are not too hesitant any more. I have to admit, that is some improvement."

"I became used to these sorts of reactions because of our constant hunting, that and because you keep trying to interrupt me whenever I'm… Training… Wait a second!"

"So you finally realize. I was doubtful such a simple method was going to work, but you slowly began ignoring the simple reactions coming from our our targets. By the way I'm sorry for all those times, please understand, that was for your training."

"Hmph! You have to treat me to some dessert for the crimes you've committed on me!"

"Hehe, Alright my lady, it's a deal."

Well, of course throwing rocks is something you can get used to easily, so there would be times when I would actually throw something a lot more dangerous her way like a knife or something sharp. Besides that she would always be easily scared, so I would always commit to jumpscares around corners, or give her something like a bug that scares her during training.

Fufu… though it was training, her reactions were hilarious...

"Stop throwing things at me! I might get hurt!"

"Eek! Don't let it come any closer! Get it away!"

"AAAHH! Don't scare me like that! I almost had a heart attack!"

Fufu, I can't stop laughing when I remember them...

These are all simple I know, most adventurers wouldn't be afraid of these sorts of petty tricks, but Lilith wasn't an adventurer not yet. So starting from the smallest was quite necessary, and slowly escalating it on the battlefield, to my satisfaction it worked like a charm.

"Also, it seems your cluelessness is beginning to let go as well. I can't say if that's a good a or bad thing considering just how easy it was to use."

"W-What is that supposed to mean?! Are you saying I am that easy to read?!"

"Yes, yes you are."

"You!"

Her face lit up in frustration and began chasing me for a bit to alleviate it.

I made a small giggle upon her reaction. I was going to continue teasing her, but the sound of multiple footsteps caught my ears. The sounds of howls could be heard from the same direction as well.

"Don't thank me yet, seems like the rest of the hunting pack caught up with what was going on. We got company."

"Let me handle this!"

She stepped right in front of me and aimed her staff in front of her. She waited until the wolves were in close distance. Trusting her I didn't say a word to stop her. She took a deep breath and casted a familiar spell.

"Flame wall!"

A 6 foot tall and 8 foot wall of flame sprung up in front of us. I used my arm to shield myself from the sudden burst of heat. She then began casting arrows one after another placing them stationary over her shoulder. I get it! Since this is fire its not purely solid so wants to shoot behind while they are confused. A little bit too smart though… Is this really Lilith from just 20 days ago?

I'll deal with that later, for now I've got this to take care of. Lilith began firing arrows to draw attention to the wall in front of them and to deal some crowd control. While I maneuvered around the wall to issue attacks. Using one skill after another to dispatch the wolves. The wolves yelped as my blade ran through their flesh. Once I was finished, Lilith removed her "Firewall" and continued to channel her remaining energy. I wiped the sweat running down my face from the fire wall's residue heat.

That felt easy, my stamina wasnt even below 60%, perhaps this is the first time, but are these the effects of the stat points I placed into strength since our fight with the bear? I knew it was an instant boost, but this improvement by normal standards is phenomenal or maybe unnatural. Even though I did place points into strength, my stamina couldn't have adapted as quickly as no points were added into that, maybe I'm underestimating the improvements of my training. That just means I have to work harder. I drew a hidden smile of satisfaction in my mind as I bask in my imaginary spotlight.

I noticed one more wolf on the ground still alive, but I chose to leave it. I walked away, but then a similar scene like Lilith's came for me, but I still chose not to react and delayed my actions. However, like the other wolf that chose to strike Lilith on its deathbed, it was put down in the next second, this time by Lilith.

Mmm… Very good.

"Zach, what were you standing there for! You could have been killed!"

"I know, I was waiting if you would respond in heat of the situation."

"Grr! Stop testing me like that! I don't want you to get hurt!"

"That's my line, you almost died a few moments ago."

"Don't put that on me! Speaking of which, now we are even!"

"Even? Don't go using those words on your high horse just yet. You still have to save me tens of times before we can call it even."

"Grr! Can you be anymore sm-"

"I'm sorry, I've teased you too much lately. Thanks for saving me anyway."

"Muu…"

She averts her gaze as she flushes from my comment.

"I don't think I need to give a diagnosis on what you just did, you are learning at exceptional speed, just keep doing what you're doing and you'll be a great adventurer in no time-"

"No! Please tell me! I want to hear it from you!"

I was surprised by her assertiveness. I was left speechless for a second.

"Hey, thats too many surprises for one day, are you really Lilith?"

"There you go again!"

"Hehe, I'll tell you on the way back then…"

"Okay!"

We then trailed our way back to the city.

Our training continued on for another four days making it a total of 14 days of training. Since our new partnership I find it quite pleasant whenever she's around, her clumsiness and smile can easily light up a day of hard work more so now that she has improved a great length since I met her. However, my plans of going back to solo have been unwavered, though I guess as of now if I were to party up with anyone in the future for simple tasks, she'd be the first I'd go to.

Things were going smoothly, we trained, worked, with no difficulties, and today was just another day of the same routine.

It was our 15th day now. We were just finishing another harvest from our quest. I looked towards Lilith while picking some plants. She was chasing after a colorful butterfly, the kind of action you'd see kid pull after first seeing one. As I watched her reach for it with a childlike expression, a comfortable feeling partnered with a smile appeared on my face.

When she stopped chasing she took a glance at me. When we had eye contact I felt a sudden spreading of heat upon my cheeks and snapped back and went back to work.

I guess I'm still shy, huh?

She looked at me with a confused expression, but observed my expression closely and came closer with a playful smile and spread her arms around my neck and laying her breasts on my back.

My cheeks flushed even more as I came into contact with the soft and warm sensation.

"Lilith! W-What are you doing?! Not this again!"

"You are just so cute when you are embarrassed! I can't help but hug you! Give me a few seconds would you?"

"Mmm…."

Every once in awhile whenever she would start hugging me, especially when I'm vulnerable or when I least expect it. I wouldn't say I don't enjoy my fair share, most speaking the warmth, it feels nice… I'm sure Sam would be jealous if he had known I was subjected to this often, but its still embarrassing nonetheless!

We stayed silent as I let her embrace me. C'mon, when will it be over? You're killing me from embarrassment you know?

"Hey, can't we stay partners?"

"Lilith, we've talked about this. I thought I made it clear I was going back to being solo once this was over."

"I mean, we're doing fine together aren't we? Why can't we work together longer? I know I can be an annoyance, but I'm better now."

"You are, I can clearly see that. I don't know really, I guess I'm just too used to working on my own. It's not like I don't trust you to protect me like before, but…."

" I don't understand your reasoning, but why do you have to be so stubborn? Can't you see were invincible together? Pretty please?"

"Only for now, I don't think we'll last longer if we went against anything tougher, especially with you who's only recently bloomed."

"Then I'll get stronger with you!"

"I think that route is better suited on our own separate ways."

"Mmm...Stay!"

"Let go of me already!"

"I don't want to!"

As we pursued our childish struggle, a drop of water hit my nose. I looked up and saw dark clouds beginning to form.

"It looks like its about to rain, we should start heading back."

"Yeah, would you mind carrying me back? My legs hurt…"

"Grr! Get of me already!"

We made it back to the city just in time for the rain to begin pouring down.

"We made it. Looks likes I'm still going to get soaked. Alright I'll be seeing you tomorrow Lilith, take care-"

"Come with me, we can stay in an inn just near here."

"Okay, lead the way."

I followed Lilith to the inn already a bit wet. As soon as we made it, we rushed inside to escape the rain. When I finally got sight of where we were, I took a look at our surroundings.

The innkeeper approached us.

"May I help you?"

"Yes, may we stay until the rain clears up?"

"Of course. However you must pay for the cost of at least one night."

"I see. 1 room with two beds should be fine."

"Eh!"

"Is there a problem Lilith?"

"No, I wish it were a queen siz…"

"I didn't quite catch that last part, could you speak louder?"

"Don't worry it was nothing."

"Okay then, what shall it be?"

"1 room for 2 for 1 night, without special privileges will cost you 5 silver."

! 5 silver for a night?! What!? I looked around me again. I noticed that the condition of this inn is far better than the one I was staying at, with fine furniture, a warm fireplace, a couple of well drawn paintings and an overall better condition in general.

It must be one of those middle ranking inns, so it would understandably have a higher price. Still, even if it is, 5 silver for only that much has to be a scam! Not only that, but that will put a dent in our shared wallet even if we have made quite a lot by normal standards.

"Couldn't the price be a bit lower?"

"I'm sorry, but that is the price agreed upon on this establishment. If you cannot comply I'm afraid you will have to be forced out."

When he said that his expression changed. Though not expressing it fully, I can see it behind the mask he puts up. One that doesn't care for those with no wealth and one that can be seen to extort people for his own selfish needs.

Tsk, it makes me sick to see such trash like him… I guess I'll have to bear with him, medicine still costs more than what this scam artist is selling us anyway.

I sighed in defeat and was about to take out the money, but Lilith held my hand stopping it. I looked to her confused, but soon gave me a reassuring expression. I stopped and backed away giving her the stage. She then turned back to the innkeeper.

"Perhaps, we can work something out?"

"Huh? What do you mean? I'm sorry, but it's either you pay or you leave-"

Lilith then stared into his eyes. His sentence was cut off and stared at Lilith with a blank expression for the next few seconds. Soon his cheeks flushed red and snapped out of his trance.

"I'm sorry I lost my train of thought there."

"Yes, we were negotiating about lowering the price?"

"Ah, y-yes of course. I'm truly sorry for my behavior, please take any room you wish."

"Thank you."

What? That can't be right? I read through him, there's no way someone like him would become so generous. Just what did you do Lilith?

"C'mon lets get a move on."

"Oh okaaaaay!"

She pulled my arm to a room. When we opened it, it was a large stylish room with artistic furnishings, a similar fireplace at one end of the room along with a personal bathroom and otherwise in exceptional condition. The most noticeable being a queen sized bed right at the center. It could only be described as an equivalent to a suite!

I turned to Lilith who was in glee and was expecting something from me. Probably like a compliment. Instead…

"I'm not staying here."

"EH!?"

"No, just no."

"Why?!"

"Too expensive, too classy, other than that there's only one bed."

"What's the problem with that?! The innkeeper said we can take any room we wanted!"

"This is what you wanted. Why do you even want to sleep in such a luxurious room anyway?"

"Can't it be a change of pace? I'm sure you are sleeping in some dirt cheap inn as well."

"We can't even afford for such a room anyway."

The innkeeper came back upon hearing my remark.

"By the way, it's on the house stay as long as you want."

She turned back to me giving me a "see?" expression.

WWHHAAAT! Okay something is really not right here! Seriously just what did you do Lilith?! No I am absolutely not staying in the same room as her! I'm still not prepared to share a room with someone especially a girl!

"No, I'm going to go to another room."

"Muu! Zach you stubborn blockhead!"

She shouts and begins throwing a tantrum. Some of the residents in the other rooms were coming out to see what was the ruckus and slowly attracting more attention.

"Okay, Okay! I'll sleep in the same room as you just stop alright? You're attracting too much attention!"

"Yay!"

Her expression changed immediately, she jumped up happily. You trickster... I dragged her in the room to stop any further attention.

We began to settle down in the large room. It didn't seem like the storm was going to let up so we both decided to make ourselves comfortable during our one night stay.

"Your turn!"

Lilith exclaimed as she came out of the bathroom changed into the inns provided clothing.

"There's something I need to ask the innkeeper for a sec, be back in a bit!"

"Alright."

I stepped into the bathroom and began taking a shower reflect on my current situation. My face was completely red…

I-I never thought that I'd be spending a night with a girl, more so sleeping side by side in the same bed! N-No, Zach… keep it together, it's just sleeping in the same bed, there's nothing wrong with that, what are you getting all nervous for? My shyness sure is a hindrance that affects me a lot, wait isn't this a normal reaction? Or is it just me?… even if Lilith is a girl I've gotten used to being around with, this for me is still an unusual circumstance! W-What am I gonna do?!

I splashed some water on my face to refresh my memory.

Calm down and think… there are more important matters to think about right now!

Like what happened just a while ago. I still have my assumptions as to what happened between Lilith and that innkeeper. I thought for sure I cracked his thoughts behind his mask… all she did was look him in the eye and he changed.

Maybe it was some sort of hypnosis magic, perhaps this girl does have some secrets worth taking note about, I must be weary of them...I shouldn't press this onto her, she might get suspicious.

I finished up and changed into the inn's clothes and left the bathroom rubbing a towel against my hair soaking up what's left of the water.

As soon as I came out, Lilith came in with an arms full of firewood and threw them into a pile just beside the fireplace

"Um, what's with all the firewood?"

"I asked the innkeeper, he said "take as much as you need""

Wow I'm suddenly feeling sorry for that guy since we aren't paying him, we are casually staying here as we would stay in our homes, whatever she did seemed to be a little too effective...

I thought that I could do some training to pass the time while we're here. I mean it's not like there's anything else to do is there?"

"Your right… I should find something to do as well…"

"Maybe I can try reading your spell book for the time being. May I?"

"Yes, here."

As soon as I open the book, I began scanning through the pages, but…. I can't read it. Its in Latin, it's a big mess swimming in my mind…

I sighed in my defeat and gave the book back to Lilith.

"Hehe, I looks like it's my time to teach some lessons.

"Like what?"

"Start by meditating. That's how we all start, try to concentrate the flow of magic and center it in your core."

The core she mentioned must be my brain then, well it's what I've deduced from my stay. Concentrate my magic like the way she does, huh?

"Alright. So what do I do?"

"Sit in a crossed position and close your eyes and see if you can find the flow of you're magic."

"Okay…"

I sat and crossed my legs on the bed and closed my eyes. I didn't really know how this was going to work, so I just continued.

"Please tell me once you pick something up. I'll be here doing my own training."

"Yes. What do you mean by "something"?"

"You'll know when you find it, the feeling is different for everyone."

She actually sounds a bit different, no doubt more confident than when we began, her stuttering has even lessened, but her polite and shy nature can still be seen.

"I see. I guess I'll start then…"

I close my eyes and after some time picked up on something. It felt like a stream of water circulating in the nerves of my head. Although it felt like it was… everywhere…Like a pool of water overflowing to its surroundings flowing through the rocks and crevices.

"I think I got it."

"Wow, as expected from one with such talent such as yourself, that was fast! It usually takes a 6-10 hours before they can find it, but you found it in just one! "

"So what's next? The magic, it feels like it's all around my bra- I mean my core."

"It's to be expected. What you just sensed now was your own magic circulating in your core, what you want to do is concentrate the magic into your core. It's an essential hurdle before you can truly start training magic."

"Okay. I have a question though. Is it a necessary process every time I have to cast magic?"

"Yes and no. No, because once you finished concentrating it will forever be like that unless you gain more ability which requires the process to be redone to channel the extra controllable magic that has been gained. And yes, because even though the magic has been contained, it still must be managed to be able to use it effectively. If not concentrated the amount of effectiveness a spell can have will be significantly lower than when it is concentrated."

"Wait hold on for a second… you are telling me that you could have fired of a spell at any time even if your magic levels are in a state of disarray?"

"Yes…"

"Then why didn't you try casting spells during those times! And I thought this whole time you were more useless in those moments than I thought! Now I feel like real jerk…"

"I-I'm sorry I didn't tell you!"

"Anyway...Is there a way for me to always be in a concentrated state?"

"Yes, practice and train long enough and it comes as second nature to where it will constantly be in a concentrated state without the need of management should there not be any improvement in your level. If there were to be improvement then it would need some time to adjust which can be easily done. If not then the new level of magic that has been achieved may not allow its full potential."

"So from my understanding, I assume you have not reached that level yet?"

"No I'm afraid not. Most of the people who can do it are 4 star mages, in fact it's a necessary skill for the test itself."

"How long would it take for one to reach that level?"

"A couple years of training from what I know."

"Years?! No actually… I shouldn't be surprised, of course not everything's going to be easy even if people regard me as gifted."

"A-Ah, not to worry! I'm sure you can achieve it in just half the time! Shorter even!"

"Still supporting me even now. Thanks for the encouragement Lilith."

"D-Don't mention it! Please continue meditating, don't talk too much or else you might lose your concentration!"

I stopped talking and quickly found my way back to my core. I used to imagine how I sensed magic levels like a heart monitor where if a heart was beating would have spikes, in the context of magic out of control and unusable or detrimental. And flatline is balanced meaning it's concentrated. Though now that I'm feeling the flow myself, it's like a popped water balloon with its contents spreading out in the black in stasis tinted in blue...

So, how am I going to do this…. I then began to imagine it concentrated at a center. Slowly the channels opened and began returning to a certain point.

Okay that's one, let's keep going!

After a few hours of meditation trying to pull the branches into my "core", I broke out of it losing my concentration.

I panted as I recooperated myself…

"Zach are you alright?!"

"I'm fine, just tired."

I looked at the bars in my upper left and noticed my MP was at was at 10. I see so what I felt as I concentrated the branches in my core.

Allow me to explain what just happened. Concentrating magic is quite the hurdle. In the space of darkness to where the branches reach out, there was a numerous number of them at that. As I begin concentrating a each of them the rest of the branches become harder to concentrate and continue so on so forth.

As I channeled my magic into my "core" mental energy is used in the process. From what I felt, there were no more than a few hundred, and each rise in difficulty as I go on concentrating each one using more mental energy. I tried to do multiple at a time, however that too seemed to use much of my mental energy.

When I left the space I only finished about 10 of the few hundred branches, I guess not even for one who is called talented like me, it's still something that proves difficult. At least the ones I've already contained will be staying there

I explained the same situation to Lilith….

"W-Well, it's not unusual. This really is the part everyone struggles with when they first start training, it's always the initial concentration phase, but after that everything comes naturally. Even talented people struggle don't worry."

"I see… By the way, how goes you're training?"

"Well… I'm having my own hurdles I must climb over, but still manageable."

I checked on her progress I saw that a good portion of the pile has been turned to ash using the proper training I instructed her.

"Hm, that should be more than enough for today Lilith. I think it's time for both of us to rest."

"N-No, I-I'll be fine. I'll be here keeping the fire warm."

"You don't need to-"

"D-Don't worry I'll be fine! I'll be off to bed before you know it!"

"Okay then…"

I walked back towards the bed and before leaping into the covers I turned back to Lilith to give my final words of the day.

"Lilith."

"Y-Yes!"

"Don't… push yourself too hard. You've improved greatly over the past weeks, I wouldn't want to see you too tired tomorrow."

"I-I know! Y-You don't need to worry about m-me! Please rest! Gosh! You worry about me too much! I don't… dislike it… though…"

Her expression turned beat red with her last words drowned out. I giggled. Sorry I just can't help it. I laid on the bed. I took one more glimpse of her. I watched her for a few seconds, determined. She really has grown through the course of this month, I'm proud of her. I smiled slightly and slept.

Next Morning….

Why do I feel so warm all of a sudden and the feeling as though something is holding on to me.

"Muu…"

A voice? Who could that be?

I forced my eyes to open finding a Lilith sleeping right next to me embracing me like a hugging pillow. My face instantly turned red.

"L-Lilith-"

Before I said anything I felt something peculiar. Her mana is almost gone. What? Why is her mana so low?

"Muu..mmm… Mu? Is it morning already?

"Um… Lilith…"

"Z-Zach!"

"Lilith… um… what are you doing hugging me?"

"I-I'm sorry! I must've been very tired after training last night, I mistook you for a large pillow. Hahaha..."

She said forcing a laugh through her embarrassment.

Don't tell me, she was up all night practicing?

"Sigh… I told you not to overexert yourself. Anyway, are you feeling alright?"

"N-No I'm fine! Let's get to work! Wouldn't want to be wasting the day in bed!

She exclaimed with vigor in her words just before losing her balance falling back onto the bed.

"Obviously not…"

"I'm sorry…"

"Sigh, there's nothing we can do about it if you don't have the energy to work."

She began to look down in her own self disappointment. Gk! Don't do that please! Hrmmm…. well… I guess she needs the rest after all this time...

"Although…"

Her ears perked up and looked towards me.

"We don't have to go to work early today…"

"W-What are you saying?"

"We can start work later, the Guild wouldn't mind anyway right? Though we can't take anything that will take too long."

"W-Why are you offering me this?"

"I thought we would need a rest day one of these days. What better time than now?"

"And, I, er...feel guilty for making you do stuff like this… I'm sorry."

"E-Eh! P-Pay it no mind! I-Its very beneficial and because of it I'm able to support you more now!"

"Thank you, Lilith."

"Muu! You're so sly Zach! Don't you know maidens are weak to guys like you with such words!"

Did I say something wrong perhaps? Should I have said something else?

"Well you did offer me this… I intend to cash it in, in full!"

She said as she dragged me back down to the bed and returned to our previous position. My face and hers also returned to its crimson glow.

"Would it be okay, if I hold you like this while I sleep...?"

My mind went into a mess trying to answer her request. J-Just bear with it...! You offered this to her, I have to uphold it no matter how flustered I am!

"N-No problem...! If you really want to anyway..."

She smiled brightly as she held me tightly pushing her body against mine digging her face into my chest. I took a peek at her and she was already back to sleep.

I knew this already, but she's really cute... seeing her like this is just... a bit too much. W-What am I still saying?! I mean it's natural isn't it? Being attracted to a girl? Maybe this happened a bit too fast right after I met her... hrrmm.

Should I rest too? Well, I don't think I'll get much out of it due to my self-consciousness... it's hard to relax with such a sensation being felt at the moment. I guess it couldn't be helped, I should just relax anyway even if I can't sleep. I took one more peek at her and smiled rubbing her head gently before returning to my position.

We got back up around late morning just before lunch would usually be served; got into our clothes and made our way out of the inn.

"Bye, I hope you had a great stay!"

The still hypnotized innkeeper called out as we exited the inn.

As soon as Zach and Lilith closed the door behind them. The innkeeper snapped out of his trance.

"God… what happened last night? Why is my high class room a mess?! And why am I missing a large portion of my firewood?! When I find the person who did this…!

We heard the innkeeper shouting as we left the inn. Seems he's back to normal, still questioning what happened, but that's for another time. I turned to Lilith with a smile and she did as well.

"Ready?"

"Mmm! Let's go!"

I smiled as we turned ahead heading towards the guild.

END OF CHAPTER


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Well it's day 29 of my training program with Lilith. We're at the end of august, I'm thankful by the way that the calendar was the same as my old world, if it was anything different I might probably lose track of my days here.

Anyway. Today was another day of training for me and Lilith. We were doing our daily runs through the forest harvesting beasts along as collecting our quest requirements.

I looked at Lilith walking beside me.

She noticed.

I turned away quickly.

"What is it?"

She asked while tilting her head with a cue expression.

"N-Nothing…!"

Seriously what is wrong with me…

Before anything else I hear sounds of footsteps headed our way.

"Zach?"

"Quickly hide!"

I grab her arm and pull her about 20 feet from our position and hid in some vegetation.

"Eh!"

Once we settled in, our mouths stayed shut as we waited for the approaching sound to pass by our vision.

"Gorroab. Gororb. Gragro"

"Graror Grcoro"

"Orgarrd Grogroa Gorroc"

We peeked behind the vegetation, in our sights was a large group of stubby green goblins each of them armed with their own weapons.

"3...7….10….20, around 30 of them. 3 of them wearing better gear than the rest, platoon leaders."

"30!? That's too much! W-What are goblins doing in the safe zone; shouldn't they be somewhere in the inner areas of the forest?!"

She's right. This is unfortunate and peculiar. There were 5 platoon leaders as well as one that looked like the leader, a troop leader to be specific. We aren't anywhere near most of the area's they camp at, there have been many reports these last few weeks that the sightings of goblins have grown to concerning numbers catching the eye of the higher ups of the guild. What are they doing away from their usual area. There's no time to think of this now, our safety comes first.

"There's a lot of them...! W-What should we do?"

"We need to pull back immediately, and report this back to the guild. Walk slowly…"

*Snap!*

As soon as I said that Lilith took a misstep and snapped a twig.

"Gruh?"

"Grock!"

Alerted to the sound they looked in our direction. They spotted us, one of the leaders gave shout.

"GRAAAHH!"

"Run!"

As soon as I called out both of us immediately started running in the direction behind us. We ran through the vegetation pushing and dodging anything the best we can. The Goblin's quickly followed with their higher agility. I made sure to secure the rear, but Lilith is still lagging behind me, they're closing the distance fast!

I halted my movements letting Lilith pass me and pulled out my sword and made a slash to the Goblin just right behind her stopping its charge and stabbing it. Fresh blood spilled upon my blade as it pierced the goblins green skin.

"Zach!"

"I'll buy some time, keep running find somewhere to hide! I'll be right behind you!"

Two of the goblins begin closing in on my position.

"Graah!"

I dodged its swing and swept my blade along its upper abdomen. The other Goblin tried to make slash, I parried and immediately stabbed my blade through the creature's torso. Another Goblin was coming to attack me from behind.

Tsk!

I took a hold of my sword with both hands and ran it through the goblin's torso making an arc to reach it, trailing a deep red line up until its face. It rived in agony as it held the bleeding wound on its face. I meant to finish it, but its allies were not far behind.

"GRAH!

"GROAC!

"Shit!"

I kept on running hoping to lose them. I finally stopped somewhere, thinking I've lost them. My stamina is low, but I gotta find Lilith before anything happens to her.

I then feel a familiar feeling rang in my head… it feels like Lilith...but she isn't around here. I get it, magic perception! I look where the feeling is coming from, it feels like a trail… really this girl still has to learn how to control her magic in times of crisis, it's like she's a leaking jug. But I can't be more happy that she's still doing it. I should be able to track her down with this, let's hope she's safe.

I rushed through the trail's path trying to move cautiously through the forest environment. After a few minutes of following the trail searching, I eventually found its source.

The magic it's starting to grow stronger and I'm starting to feel the same fluctuating magic levels I felt from her! It's being emitted around that bush, that must be Lilith!

I quickly approach it to find a shriveling girl holding onto her staff for comfort.

"Lilith!"

"KYAAA!" She shouted of guard, attempting to use her staff to hit me in fright.

"Hey! Relax, it's me!"

I exclaimed catching her staff mid swing.

"Z-Zach? You're alive! I'm so glad!"

"We can rejoice about it later, keep it down they might still be-"

I then see a few green midgets appearing from the direction I came from.

"Get down!"

"Eep!"

I pull her back down into our cover and took glances at what's happening behind it.

"It looks like they're still searching for us, they must've followed me and heard your scream."

"S-Sorry!"

"Were far too deep and away from our usual path to get home. Other than that we're surrounded on almost all sides. I guess we're gonna have to go with plan B"

"Plan B?"

Confused she asked nervously.

"The only way we can escape is killing every single last one of these guys. Other than that if these guys are left here, they'll disrupt the ecosystem of the safe zone, along with their numbers… who knows how many more there will be if we let this troupe be."

"?! I understand where you are coming from… But their numbers! W-We can't take them-"

"I didn't say "we" I mean to fight alone. If I do it correctly we should be able to get out of here alive."

Her expression changed upon hearing my decision; she was shocked and perhaps a bit frustrated hearing this.

"W-Wait! I can-"

She tried to force the words which I dreaded her to say and cut her off before she could finish.

"No you're staying right here. You'd only get in the way. Your safety is one of my priorities as of the moment, so please stay put while I deal with them."

I notice her anger and confusion which radiated of her expression as she heard me.

"But I've grown haven't I?! I can help! Not even you with your talent and skill as of the moment can get you out of this one. You need me!"

True she has and there's no guarantee if I can pull it off, but… if she gets hurt because I let her fight, it's going to put a large burden on me as her partner and leader. I don't want to see that happen! I… can't allow it…!

I continued to stay silent as I struggle to find the right words.

"I know you want to protect me and that you don't want to see me hurt. Despite everything I've done to burden you, sure you get mad, but you don't seem to want to abandon me…"

I say nothing to reject her statement. She continued to speak with consolation in her voice.

"I'm sure you have you're reasons and the fact that you like me have secrets that well in your heart. I don't expect you to tell me anytime soon or at all, but for this, please trust me to have your back as your friend and partner."

The look in her eyes… brave, confident, strong… really this isn't the same Lilith I first found one month ago, over the course of this month I've seen many sides of her and have really gotten to know her… sure, I wanted to protect her, but that was because of her lack of ability to even defend herself from the least dangerous of things or survive for that matter. Sigh… I guess all birds leave the nest after all. Wait… that's something only parents should say… wow, I sound old… did I really think of her as a kid that much?

Put that thought off for another time…

I look back at her with her head strong attitude.

"Okay, I trust you. Let's make a plan, but if I tell you to run without me, you run!"

A relieved smile appeared upon her face.

"Mm!"

"Let's see… since there is a huge difference in numbers, we are quite limited on our options of strategy here."

What are our options? Full on attack is out of course, an ambush would be good, but only if they were apart; traps are an idea too, but take time to prepare them; as of this moment we have nothing we can use to fight them… my eyes darted around for anything that can give me ideas, but to no avail.

"I know it's late and ironic to say this, but this is practically a suicide mission for the both of us…"

"Eh? That's not like you, usually you always find a way!"

"Through logical and reasonable means, survival is our main objective. I suggested exterminating them, but realizing now we don't stand a chance against those numbers, we can't face them on our own. I should have known it was a dumb idea from the start to begin with."

Her expression dipped as she heard my explanation and reasoning. I felt my expression sadden a bit as well as I balance out our odds.

Our best chance is to watch for a window of escape and get this information back to the guild as soon as possible. It's the most rational thing to do in this situation. Before I was about to announce our decision my eyes then caught glimpse of Lilith's book of spells. Hold on a second! Maybe just maybe!

"Lilith! You said you had other spells in there didn't you?"

"Y-Yes! W-Why?"

She jumped slightly at the tone of my voice.

"Read me through each one of them, there might be a spell in here that could help out our situation.

After a few minutes I looked through all the spells she had available in her arsenal as of the moment. There were many spells, but I only focused on the ones that held any practical use in battle. There weren't a lot to go through, but luckily we found just what we needed...

All of the spells she had were of the fire element, but each used it in a different way from their added explanations. Though I would love to make an exposition of their explanations utilizing modern day knowledge and science, but now is not the time to go into specifics.

"Alright you know the plan?"

"Yes, are you sure this will work though?"

"Not sure. I would prefer if there was at least one more with us for this to have a higher chance of success."

"Eh?! T-Then shouldn't we-"

"We don't have a better plan than this, if we stand by it's only a matter of time before they find us."

"B-But-"

Sounding hesitant, I made it clear to her.

"If you don't think this plan will work then I'll make sure you escape and do the job alone. This is your last chance, I won't shame you for running; it was my decision after all."

She paused and gripped her robe and raised her head with brave eyes.

"No! I'll stick with you till the end!"

I don't know whether I should praise her for her bravery or scold her for her irrationality; heck I should be telling that to myself. I was a bit conflicted as to how I should respond.

I gave her a gentle smile and rubbed her head. She was used to my sudden gestures at times, but still gets confused as to why I do them.

"Don't get hurt out there okay?"

"I-I won't!"

I gave Lilith a determined look to ease the tension and she did the same. We both knew our roles, now let us commence.

What other choice do we have left? What might happened to others if we don't act now? Can't we just run from this for now and let someone else take care of it? Some questions that circle in my head in these sorts of moments, but it's even more serious now due to the current circumstances.

I can feel my heart beating faster and sweat dripping down my face. Usually a smile will come after, but there wasn't any… What took its place was a solemn expression painting my body with all sense of worry.

In my circumstance who wouldn't be? But all I can do is put my faith in our plan and hope for the best.

I opened my stat window and placed another 3 of my attribute points into agility while 2 points went to dexterity. After finding out how much of a boost these numbers had practically, I hope these extra points will be able to do some work for me even if they're not too much.

We threaded through the forest lightly as we located the platoons of goblins split from the troop. Both of us were ready with our weapons out and fully focused on our targets.

"Ew…Did we really have to do this…?"

Lilith complains as she struggles to cope with her outer layer of mud covering most of her body and face. It was a last minute precaution that I issued just to make sure they wouldn't detect us as we snuck by them.

"Goblins have better senses than humans, they're sense of smell is not one a that should be doubted."

"I know…, but do we really have to cover ourselves with mud?"

"It hides our scent especially you who uses cologne."

"Oh you noticed? I could use it if you want me too?"

"Let's put the topic of cosmetics aside for now…Also no, stop using it, it doesn't help us nor does it smell nice."

"Aww…"

"Shh! I hear something!"

It was one of the platoons.

"Ready?"

"Ready!"

Lilith prepared her spell positioning it just in the line of their path just ahead of them.

I circled around them to my optimal position. Once I was set, I gave Lilith a gesture giving her the signal to release her spell.

"Magic that surges within me. Set my enemies ablaze beneath their feet. Red Eruption!"

The ground lit up under the feet of the goblins. Before they could even question the mysterious light, the platoon was covered in fiery explosion. The explosion was ignited right in the middle of their formation giving each of them a burning coat.

They squirmed around panicking from their wounds; this was our chance!

"Move to intercept them!"

"Yes!"

My sword was unsheathed cutting down the goblins with ease as was Lilith giving scorching explosions from her flame arrows. After about 2 minutes there was only silence and bodies on the forest floor.

"That wasn't tough!"

"No kidding, I didn't think it would be this easy to just light up an entire platoon of goblins. Now I really wished you opened that book up."

"Me too. Red Eruption could really be useful even outside of ambush tactics."

Out of the spells we found in Lilith's book, we found a spell called Red Eruption. This was the most useful spell in our situation. It's a spell which gathers fire magic onto a certain position and is triggered to explode to a maximum in a 3 foot radius with an almost immediate reaction; which is also adjustable depending on the magic power, sounds like land mine; but is different when looking at the details. The spell requires its caster to have a exceptional practice towards magic constitution as it requires to be held in place and triggered by the caster itself and is practically undetectable to those who cannot use magic. Just what we needed, I guess this is the cliche last minute save...

The spell sounds good and all, however there is still a problem, it was the fact that it needed to be held in the desired position and the magic consumption to initiate and the time to prepare the spell would be a formidable challenge for any newbie magician, which included a 3 verse incantation to cast. Lilith doesn't have a lot of magic despite her improvement to do simultaneous castings, the best she could do would be to say the incantation quietly to prevent detection; and also to limit the blast radius by half and to cast one at a time; while taking some breaks in between to regenerate her magic quickly enough to use the spell and be active in combat.

"Alright let's keep moving, wouldn't want them to catch up."

"Yes!"

We wanted to keep moving and ambushing them at different locations, if we were to just camp at only one, they'll begin to get suspicious and most likely be prepared.

We headed away from the site of the ambush to a location just near enough for us to see what was happening, but far enough for us to remain undetected.

The entire force came running from all directions whilst maintaining their formations. Their eyes squabble around the scene of the crime as they see their comrades burned to a crisp and slashed all over.

They were clearly enraged by this sight as their cries travelled through the surrounding area.

Their leader one with the significantly better armor even than the platoon leaders stepped up and shouted to silence their panic.

"GRRAAAOORRRAAAHHH"

He reorganized them, gave them orders in the form or sounds and grunts and sent them off to search again.

"He seems to be important, smarter too than most of the leaders I've seen."

It seems rank is determined by one's leadership and equipment in the goblin hierarchy.

"Should we take his group out next?"

"Perhaps, clearing of the small fry should be our priority, even if they do get away, their forces will have some damage and their plans setback. Besides I'm intrigued what he'll do next"

"I see. So we'll follow one of the others then?"

"Yes, has your magic regenerated?"

"Mmm!"

"Then let's get a move on."

We stalked the other group and repeated the same process of our earlier ambush. We lied and waited then tracked them down again. We did this series of attacks once more, they didn't suspect a thing.

"This is easy! If we continue doing this this then we'll win in no time!"

"Let's not get ahead of us just yet, we still have 3 more platoons to take care of. Are you ready?"

We lied and waited to ambush them again. But this time only one group came.

"Eh! Only a single platoon came?!"

"Yes, it seem so…"

I looked closely, I didn't see anyone with better equipment than the other. So the platoon leader wasn't with them. And it just so happened I was hearing a lot movement through the nearby shrubbery. Interesting...

"Whatever we'll just kill them of like the rest, c'mon Zach let's-"

"No. Don't... Do not attack them or alert them in anyway."

"Eh? Why?! They're out in the open!"

"They're trying to bait us out."

Lilith looked confused so I elaborated my assumption.

"They sent in a platoon without a leader to act as bait for us to reveal our positions. When we attack they'll ambush us. They're probably around here somewhere waiting us out."

"I see, so what shall we do?"

This is interesting, it's not a complicated strategy, but it's a smart move. So how should we go about this… we can't move otherwise we have a chance of coming across one of them through the bushes and risk reveal our positions to the spies.

"Zach? What do we do?"

"Hm… cast the spell."

"I thought you said…!"

"Do it."

She did as was told without pause and casted the spell. Once it was casted, we didn't move a the other hand, our enemy did; once seeing the flame that engulfed their comrades.

Cunning but still stupid. We continued to watch them. They prepared their weapons waiting for us to jump out keeping their eyes towards their surroundings, when there was no sign of us coming they resumed more relax states. The leader then turned his eyes to his burning men, the others did the same.

They watched as their fellow goblins slowly burned from the flames, they screamed in agony was the pain settled in within their flesh and bone and finally dropped dead onto the floor.

Hmm, this is new, from what I have seen, goblins are a species of self-preservation that would not only protect themselves, but also help others of their kind when needed. But these guys just watched without a shred of care for them. Maybe it was too late, or maybe they were afraid of the fire spreading to them, perhaps orders from their troop leader or some other reason.

These little midgets though regarded as peanut brain cannon fodder still surprise me despite my knowledge of them.

"How cruel… even for goblins that's a bit…"

Even Lilith was shocked to see this while holding her hands over her mouth to keep quiet.

They were all together seemingly organizing themselves. The leader stood tall surveying the area around him. His eyes stopped in one direction, mine; they widened. He screamed as he pointed in my direction.

"GRRRRAAAAAHHHH"

"Oh no."

"What should we-!"

"Shush, they only spotted me. Lie low and don't move!"

"B-But don't you need support?"

"Only if you could manage!"

"Hey over here you green midgets! Come over here!"

They charged forward on command from their leader. I was going to run in the opposite direction to drive them away, but a voice came between my decisions.

"Flame wall!"

A wall of flame obstructed my line of sight. Before the goblins reacted to the wall of flame in their path, they had already dived head first into the fire. 2 of them went through while others were mystified by the sight.

They screamed just before allowing my blade to cut them down. I looked back at the source, Lilith. She wore her new found determination and bravery in her gaze with all desire to be in the fight. It wasn't hard for me to understand what she meant with it. I smiled and nodded back.

"Let's go, we need to find a more open space!"

She nodded quickly and stood up from her spot. I grabbed her hand and both of us began running in the opposite direction away from the wall of fire. When the goblins finally came to realize what they should do we were already at a considerable distance.

"GRRAAAAAOOOAAA!"

A loud scream came from behind us, signaling their advance. Before we knew it we heard the sounds of grunts and shouts following our tracks.

"They're coming!"

"Keep running, place down flame walls to slow them down! Focus on the power not the duration! But, only do it when they get close!"

"Yes!"

The goblins were fast approaching, jumping around the trees and through the underbrush, it wasn't surprising they caught up to us.

One of the Goblins was on our tail, reaching its green hand at a chance to grab us.

"GRUH, GruH, Groa!"

He made sounds showing its struggle, however wasted as a new flame wall was erected right in front of him.

Melting his face off along with a few others. However, it wasn't like the first time, once seeing the wall they knew well enough to go around and not through or even stop without a second thought.

"Some of them are avoiding the walls!"

"Doesn't matter just keep them at bay! We're almost there!"

"Okay!"

We kept running, while I was leading the way, Lilith was casting waves of walls to stop their path significantly reducing their numbers, however a good number of them survived and were still in pursuit.

"Zach, I don't think we can keep this up much longer!"

Though I could obviously keep going and reach the area in time, Lilith couldn't much more so while maintain magic consumption.

"It's fine, it's just ahead! Cast one more time, make the length and height as long as you can!"

"Okay…!"

She took a deep breath and stabilized her magic levels to cast her spell. She then shouted her single verse incantation.

"Flame wall!"

Another wall of flame appeared this time, it was 5 meters tall and 7 meters wide making a high and long wall even the goblins can't just measely go around.

"Good that'll hold them, let's get to the spot!"

We heard multiple loud cries behind the wall. Probably the goblins venting out their frustrations. We continued running until we found the area I was talking about. It wasn't anything special just another clearing, even though we had a map, it didn't really point out specific area of no value, so I did my own mapping to remember strategic choke points in situations against a large of high number of enemies.

"Zach, I'm getting a bit dizzy…"

"I know. We're here anyway."

I took her to some dense shrubbery to hide her.

"You rest here and regain your magic."

"But won't you need help!?"

"It would be easier if you were with me, but you need to rest."

She turned her head down in self disappointment knowing that she wasn't able to assist me. I placed my hand along the side of her face turning it upwards.

"I'll be fine."

I gave her a smile of assurance and went back out and prepared myself for the onslaught.

I unsheath my sword and formed my stance. Out of the forest came 10 goblins. 4 normals, 5 platoon leaders and 1 troop leader. I'm not only out numbered, and by advance units at that. Well… this is going to be fun. I say that in my head with all honesty with a bit of sarcasm as well.

There sights locked onto me. Raging shouts poured out from their lungs as they took out their weapons.

I smiled with my sword anchored by my waist and narrowed my eyes, ready.

The four regular goblins came first with their weapons high in the air ready to butcher me.

"GRRRAOOOAAA!"

The first of the bunch came into my strike zone. I issued a horizontal slash to its abdomen and immediately followed it up with a thrust. The goblin was toppled back and fell over with ease. The other three took its place.

They swung their weapons in sync to have a higher chance at hitting me. From my perspective their swings were slow, I took a few side steps to dodge the incoming weapons.

They looked around to see where I was, but I was already behind them. I anchored my sword at shoulder length and was at close enough range to attack. I performed my technique [Round Accel] and cut through the necks of two goblins while slightly missing the third. He fell to the ground catching himself with his hands to the forest floor, but was greeted with a powerful stab to the back, ending its life. The forest grass was already teeming with goblin blood draining into the rocks and crevices.

It seems I'm seeing the fruits of my training and the effects of the attribute points to my stats. My body feels lighter, my attacks feel faster and not to mention stronger too. At this point I think I can go to the deeper parts of the forest, once I get permission from the guild.

I pulled my sword out of the goblins back and turned back to the bystanders. I pointed my sword towards them, whipped to my side and used my opposite hand to issue a taunt.

They growled at me. Their leader looking at his subordinates commanding them to step forward. Does he mean to continue testing me acting as if he's worthy? Or does he mean to tire me out for the final battle?

Either way… I'll cut them down just like the rest!

They charged in unison similar as a platoon would. I took my bolases out and started throwing them one after the other at my enemy. The little green midgets dodged them, laughing and sneering. It's expected, they do have higher attributes in speed anyway. I still have some time, better just waste them with the distance we have.

Two of the goblins suddenly stopped together side by side, seeing the chance I threw two bolases at them. However it seemed my continued underestimation of their species has led to me seeing more surprises. The two goblins behind them used their bodies as stepping blocks and jumped high in the air to clear the remaining distance and leaped over my head.

I see… so it's meant to redirect attention while at the same time act as a way surround the enemy. So when they charge from the top to pushing from behind, the others would briefly forget about the ones that have stopped to continue charging. For there size and build, it's a good strategy I must say, but…

The two behind you have already been caught by my bolases.

I turned to face the two leaders, they swung their weapons in the same angle attempting to harm me. I placed my sword in their weapons trajectory and had them in a sword lock.

I felt a sudden chill down my spine as I took a peak behind me. Another goblin was sprinting towards my direction ready to stab me with its dagger.

Shit! I forgot about that last one! My back is wide open!

It's bloodthirsty blade almost made contact with my armor, but the goblin was soon seen hit by an explosion and had his flesh burning away.

The goblin leader seemed stumped wondering what had just happened to his plan.

I grinned at my opponents. Now I can focus on you!

I retracted from the sword lock and kicked them away spartan style and aimed for their soft spots. For a minute we continued to trade and evade slashes and swings, only they were the ones receiving the damage.

They began panting, barely able to even hold their weapons from all their wounds and lost stamina. I turned my back to them. Thinking this was an opportunity, they made maniacal grins and soon reared in their weapons for the attack.

Soon after they were lit ablaze by explosions.

I then turned to the two goblins still tied in bands. They sneered at me revealing their jagged teeth, not that it's gonna do them any good. I held my sword with a hammer fist and plunged my sword into them, slashing and hacking at them until there voices were no more. Red lines revealing their innards were everywhere along their bodies, but not to the point where they would look butchered, only enough to make sure they're dead.

Once I made sure there was no longer any movement, I began looking around for my final target.

Where is he? Did he get scared and run away or something? I guess being the only one left has that kind of effect. Or does he plan to ambush me?! I looked around drastically for any signs of him.

Where could he be…?

"KYAAA!"

"Lilith?!"

I looked to where her scream came from; and found Lilith and the Goblin holding her with a blade at her neck.

"Zach save me!"

Damn it! Why must this happen now!

The goblin gave a smirk knowing he'll harmse her if I make even the slightest moves.

I was conflicted what to do next… I could throw a stone, but it'll reach too late! I can run towards them and make an accurate strike, but I can't gauge if my bladereach in time. Crap what should I do!?

I look wwww them again, then I noticed, Lilith wasn't yelling for help, she wasn't in panic more so worried. Her, magic levels… they're stabilized…? Aqwêww

I looked closer and saw a gaze of confidence within her eyes. You really have changed Lilith…!

I played along, I dropped my gear to the floor all except for a dagger I took from one of the goblins hidden in my back pocket just in case. I know he can't understand my words, but he'll at least understand a sign of surrender.

He grinned widely. Pointing his sword towards me and flipped his wrist upwards, telling me to come closer.

I walked slowly, watching, not at the goblin or the weapon, at Lilith. The same look hasn't vanished since. We don't have a plan, all we could do was trust that we'll do the right thing and that all goes well.

I nearing closer only about a few more meet away, around the same length as the blade he was holding. His expression was one of victory, he doesn't even think we could do anything to him now that he has us in a corner. That just makes it easier for us…

Lilith made a quick nod signaling her attack.

"Magic Flame Arrow!"

Arrows of flame quickly formed just behind the goblin. Startled, the goblin was about to run his blade along Lilith's throat; however, the arrows came first and contacted with scorching explosions not even his armor could protect him from.

It screamed in pain and his grip on Lilith loosened as well as dropping his blade. Lilith slipped out and dropped to the floor, once I confirmed she was out, I tackled the goblin sending him to the ground. Confused on what has happened and no clue what to do next, he did nothing to counter me as I pressed my body on top of him, took out my knife and rammed it straight through its ugly face.

"GRAAAAAHHHH!"

Still screaming?! Let me silence you! I took the dagger out and continued to stab its head until there was not a single breath in his body.

I took the knife out of his disfigured face. I looked back at Lilith and made an expression of relief as I hugged her.

"Z-Zach?!"

"Thank god you're safe…!"

"You're usually calm, you're out of character don't you know?"

Realizing what I had just done I broke away immediately with a flushed expression.

"I-I'm sorry… I don't know what got into me…"

"H-Hey why'd you let go? I don't dislike it, you… can hug me more if you want…"

"N-No it's fine."

We were both without words to say to each other. I spoke up first to break the silence.

"I'm sorry. I didn't protect you well enough."

"What are you talking about? I'm the one who should be saying sorry, as always I'm the one that's hindering you and making you worry."

"I'm your senior it's natural, I don't want my juniors getting hurt, even if we are technically in the same rank. Other than that you shouldn't worry about that. All that matters is that your safe."

"I see…"

Her face blushed and realizing what I just said I felt slight heat spread across my face too. I quickly changed the subject to avoid the atmosphere.

"A-Although I don't think I'm gonna do much of that anymore."

Lilith made a confused expression to respond.

"Eh? What do you mean?"

I looked at her with a slightly annoyed expression.

"Don't you get it? Your training is finished, I don't think you need it, looking at you now."

A wide joyful smile appeared on her face.

"R-Really?!"

I nodded with a short smile in response. I then felt her magic levels go unconcentrated, before tackling me.

"Yay! Thank you, Zach!"

She pressed her body against mine disregarding we were still covered in mud. Her arms wrapped around me pressing her breasts against my body.

"H-Hey calm yourself!"

It didn't seem like any form of communication would calm her. She's that happy huh? Can't blame her.

But then the cheerful atmosphere was immediately broken with Lilith's next sentence.

"Now I'll be able to go… alone from… now on…"

Hearing that, both of us had a sudden realization. Silence filled the atmosphere. I tried to change the subject.

"Well that depends on how well you are with what the knowledge I've given y-"

"I'll have to go alone from now on…"

But it didn't work. What is this pain in my chest that I'm feeling? I turned to Lilith who's face was tilted downwards.

"I can see what you want to talk about, but first let's head back to the city. We can talk about it there okay?"

I said in consolation for her, but it didn't seem to do any good.

"Sure…"

She said softly trying to hide her expression and tone from me.

It seems we're going to have to talk about this… why do I suddenly feel… sad

We then went on our way back to the city bearing the same thoughts in our minds…

END OF CHAPTER

Zach's stats

LVL: 9

HP: 55

MP: 20

SP: 73

STR: 16

FRT: 12

DEX: 20

AGI: 19

INT: 16

END: 0.06 SP/s

VIT: 0.007 HP/s

MS: 5

MC: 4

MR: 0.001 MP/s

Points: 7

STATUS: Normal.

Skills

Active

Straight Sword Arts

Cross Slash

Lunge

Round Accel

Passive

Hand to Hand Combat Mastery LVL: 3

One-Handed Dagger Mastery LVL: 1

One-Handed Straight Sword Mastery LVL: 6

Support

Language Comprehension

-English LVL: MAX

Mathematics

-Simple Math LVL: MAX

Crafting

Recipes: ~

Skills: ~

Cooking

Recipes: ~

Skills: ~

Harvesting

Skills: ~

Special

Awakened LVL MAX

Magic Perception LVL 1


End file.
